If At First You Don't Succeed
by theGIRLwhoREADStooMUCH
Summary: Bella has spent the last five years struggling to rebuild her life and take care of her daughter all alone. Now that she put the heartbreak and betrayal of her past behind her, and has her life back on track; she's completely unprepared for the shock that awaits her one fateful night. Must she reevaluate everything she finally put to rest? Will the Cullens force her hand? Multi POV
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Twilight and all of the characters belong to S.M. all that I own is my story line. The song "Jar of Hearts" belongs to Christina Perrie. **

**Chapter 1**

**Alice P.o.V.**

"Come on Jazz, please come. It will be so much fun!" I exclaimed trying to get my party pooper husband to come to an open mic night at my favorite café.

"Ali, I want to come with you, but I am so swamped at work right now. I had to pick up all of Kate's cases now that she is on maternity leave." Jasper tried to explain. "As soon as I get everything under control we can go out whenever you want. I promise!"

"Fine, but I am holding you too that." I said. I was turning away to go and get dressed when I felt a strong pair of arms encase my waist and pull me back. Jasper placed me on his lap and kissed me. Why is it so hard for me stay angry at this man? His mouth tasted like mint gum and cigarettes, I had been trying to get him to quit ever since I met him.

"You had better." Jasper said. I looked at my poor husband and saw how much strain all of this extra work he had taken on him. His normally slicked back blond hair was left to its own devices, which pretty much meant that he looked like he had just rolled out of bed; and normally sparkling blue eyes had gone dull. He was still the handsome man that I had fallen in love with but he just seemed lack luster the past few days.

"If I want to get there on time, then I need to go get ready." I informed him. He nodded and kissed my forehead knowing that as an up-and-coming fashion designer I could not leave our home and walk the streets of New York in the purple track suit that I was currently wearing.

"Go make yourself even more beautiful, Darling." Jazz purred, and with his southern accent peaking into his speech, he sounded incredibly sexy. I gave him another quick peck before leaving the study and skipping to our master bedroom.

Jasper and I had gotten married three months ago and our condo had been a gift from my parents. All of the rooms had been decorated by my mother, Esme, who is an interior decorator. Every time I walked in, I had to take a second to marvel at what a great job she had done. I could only hope to become as much of a master of my craft as Esme had hers.

My closet was my favorite part of the whole place. It is a walk in closet, bigger than our bathroom and is completely full with all of my clothes, shoes, and accessories. Jasper has a nice wooden dresser, so he only needed a tiny space in the corner to keep his work suits.

I picked out a purple mini dress with a sweetheart neckline along with a black sweater to ward off the mid September chill that was in the air. I grabbed a pair of black leather boots with a slight heel. I had become very accustomed with wearing heels after I realized that I wasn't going to grow any taller than 5'3. I rummaged through my shelf of purses until I found the perfect deep purple clutch bag that went with my dress. I stuck on some earrings that had been a gift from my father, Carlisle.

I checked my hair and happily saw that it was still as well styled as it was when I had done it this morning. I put on a small amount of makeup, just some mascara and eye shadow and a little of my favorite berry lip gloss. I did a quick once over in the mirror and when I deemed my appearance acceptable I made my way out to the hall. I stuck my head in the study once more and told Jasper that I was leaving before heading out the door.

The Eclipse Café was only two blocks away from us so it was a pretty quick walk. My favorite barista Maggie waved to me as I entered. I made my way over to the counter that she stood behind and she gave me a pretty smile.

"Hey Alice, do you want the usual?" she asked. I had been getting a vanilla latte, for pretty much as long as I had been coming here, but tonight I felt a little adventurous.

"No thanks, tonight I am feeling like a caramel macchiato with a little extra whip cream, because I am your favorite customer." I teased. Maggie chuckled and went off to make my drink. I scanned the place for a seat. Eclipse is a really cozy place, there are a few tables set up around the large room, but it was mostly sofas and armchairs. It always reminds me a little of Central Perk, the coffee shop in Friends. I spotted a free armchair near the back and when Maggie came back, I paid her and took my steaming drink over there to my seat. Finally one of the male employees went up to the make shift stage and announced the starting of performances.

The first person was a man named Garrett who had some very _interesting _poetry to be recited. After him many others took the stage, reciting decent poems, some were original and some were not but by the time the poetry portion of the night was done I was glad. For some reason, I had a very good feeling that something was going to happen during the singing part of the night. The same man from the beginning of the night went up to announce the first singer.

"Now on to the singing part of the night, let's give a warm Eclipse welcome to Bella Swan singing an original song entitled "Jar of Hearts."" I nearly spit out my coffee at the familiar name spoken. No it could _not _be her! She lived in Washington! Bella Swan couldn't be that unpopular of a name, right? I had just decided that it was a coincidence; when the painfully familiar face of my long lost best friend took the stage. She waited patiently as the employees quickly set up a portable keyboard. Of course that would be what she would play, not a guitar like most others would, no, Bella had always been a natural on the piano. I would know, I was there for her first lesson.

"Hello everyone, I wrote this song when I was going through a very hard time in my life. I hope that you all enjoy." She said with a tight smile. I could tell that she was nervous; public speaking had never been her forte. I couldn't help but wonder what had happened to her. I mostly hoped that it had nothing to do with my brother. Bella started playing an entrancing piano intro.

**No, I can't take one more step towards you  
'Cause all that's waiting is regret  
Don't you know I'm not your ghost anymore  
You lost the love I loved the most**

**I learned to live half alive**  
**And now you want me one more time**

My curiosity was peaked, Bella had never been one to over-exaggerate, and so if she was saying this then it was really true. I wasn't sure how I felt about anything yet.

**And who do you think you are?**  
**Runnin' 'round leaving scars**  
**Collecting your jar of hearts**  
**And tearing love apart**  
**You're gonna catch a cold**  
**From the ice inside your soul**  
**So don't come back for me**  
**Who do you think you are?**

Her voice was cracking slightly and I saw a few tears escape her eyes before she quickly brushed them away. She cleared her throat, her normal beautiful singing voice back.

**I hear you're asking all around**  
**If I am anywhere to be found**  
**But I have grown too strong**  
**To ever fall back in your arms**

What could have possibly happened to her that tore her up so badly. If this was Edward's doing I would break his arm. I don't care if he was my brother or if Bella had completely cut me out of her life; she was... is my best friend. **  
And I've learned to live half alive  
And now you want me one more time**

**And who do you think you are?**  
**Runnin' 'round leaving scars**  
**Collecting your jar of hearts**  
**And tearing love apart**  
**You're gonna catch a cold**  
**From the ice inside your soul**  
**So don't come back for me**  
**Who do you think you are?**

**And it took so long just to feel alright**  
**Remember how to put back the light in my eyes**  
**I wish I had missed the first time that we kissed**  
**'Cause you broke all your promises**  
**And now you're back**  
**You don't get to get me back**

The more I listened to the lyrics the more I feared that this was about Eddie. If she had really been this upset about their break-up then it would make sense that she stopped talking to my, I guess. People around me were taking out their cell phones and swaying them in the air like they were at an actual concert.**  
**

**And who do you think you are?  
Runnin' 'round leaving scars  
Collecting your jar of hearts  
And tearing love apart  
You're gonna catch a cold  
From the ice inside your soul  
So don't come back for me  
Don't come back at all**

**And who do you think you are?**  
**Runnin' 'round leaving scars**  
**Collecting your jar of hearts**  
**Tearing love apart**  
**You're gonna catch a cold**  
**From the ice inside your soul**  
**Don't come back for me**  
**Don't come back at all**

**Who do you think you are?**  
**Who do you think you are?**

**Who do you think you are?**

My heart tore apart at the thought of Bella in so much pain. Sure I was still pissed at her for ignoring all of my emails, calls, and texts over the past five years; but the thirteen years of close friendship could not be blocked out. More than anything I just wanted to go over to her and give her a giant hug. Then I realized I had to go and talk to her right now if I ever wanted to rekindle our friendship. New York is a big place, I would probably not see her again if I didn't go and confront her.

While Bella was given a standing ovation I made my way towards the front. When a blushing Bella stumbled off the stage she was immediately grabbed into a hug from a girl that seemed very familiar, but I couldn't place her. But as soon as I saw her face I recognized her as Angela Weber from Forks. We had never been all that close growing up but Bella and Angela had always been close and when two people share a best friend in a small town you end up spending most of your time together.

"You were greats Bells, you really were." I heard Angela encourage her. I decided to hang back for a minute and eavesdrop. Let me tell you, I would be a rocking spy, running after bad guys while never breaking a heel.

"Thanks Ang."

"James was such a bastard for what he did to you. I want to kill him." Angela said angrily in a tone that I had never heard come out of her mouth. I let out a breath of relief that I didn't know I had been holding. So the song was about this James character, not my idiot of a brother. But what had James done that could make the normally very peaceful Angela so mad? Awful situations flew into my mind and for Bella's sake I hoped that none of them were correct.

"Yes, well it's over now, the asshole is in jail. I have to move on, and so do you." Bella said soothingly to her. Jail? What the hell could have happened?

"Did you really have to move on all the way across the country?" Angela asked sadly.

"My aunt needed me, and the promotion was too good to pass up. And a change of scenery will be good for me; at least I hope it will be." She said. I wondered what was up with her aunt.

"I know, I'll just miss seeing you all of the time."

"I will miss you too sweetie, but I will be back home in a few months to be an amazing maid of honor." So Angela was getting married. I wondered if it was too Ben, her high school sweetheart. They had been so sweet together, but it had been quite a long time since I had spoken to anyone on the west coast.

"I know."

"And you had better not go all Bride-Zilla while I am gone." Bella teased.

"And you had better not date anymore douche bags when I am not around to tell you about my disapproval." Angela said. "But that does not mean you shouldn't date, Hon, I want you to find your prince charming."

"No one will want me, I have too much baggage." Bella said sorrowfully. Angela gave her a look.

"Any guy would be lucky to have you girlie." She assured her friend. Bella looked at her watch and a sad expression came on her face.

"If you are going to catch your flight you should probably be going." The two hugged again and then Angela left carrying a pink backpack over her shoulder. I quickly took my chance before my nerve was lost.

"Bella!" I called, her head whipped in my expression an expression of surprise coming over her face. Up close I could see that Bella still looked about the same as she had the last time I had seen her. Her brunette hair had grown; it went halfway down her back now, opposed to its old shoulder length cut. She was also dressed better than she used to, gone were the sweats and big t-shirts. Bella Swan had a body! She was wearing a tank top with a sweater and very form fitting skinny jeans. Other than that she looked the same as she had when she was eighteen, though more womanly.

"Alice, what are you doing here?" She asked guarded.

"I could ask you the very same question." I answered.

"Yeah, well I asked first." Was her great comeback, I guess I would let it go due to her shocked state.

"I live here, remember? I moved here for college." I said

"Oh yeah…" She said lamely. "I got a promotion to the cooperate branch of my company."

"Listen Bella, we really need to talk." I said seriously. She just looked at me sadly and I saw the reluctance in her eyes as she stared her next sentence.

"I can't Alice. I will admit that I have missed you over the years but my life is too dramatic as it is. So if you care about me, you will leave me alone." Bella said and I saw her bottom lip quiver, I knew that lip quiver, the water works were coming. She strode past me leaving me in a stunned silence. That was not the people pleasing Bella that I had known. I ran out after her and just missed her getting into a cab.

I cared about her to much to fulfill her request, I knew as I watched the cab speed away that nothing would stop me. It might be time to use some of my father's connections. As I walked home, only one question ran through my head on a loop. What had happened to my best friend?

**If you want me to continue please leave me a review. I have a few chapters finished already, but I am unsure as to when I will post them. Just to let you all know this is NOT a song fic, I just had the song in this chapter because I thought it would be good for the story. Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, I am sadly not cool enough…**

**Chapter 2**

**Bella P.O.V.**

"Momma, get up!" A perky voice cheered while shaking my shoulder. I groaned and opened my eyes to see my daughter with a huge smile on her face; wearing clothes that did not match one bit. I quickly rubbed my eyes and sat up.

"Look Momma, I dressed myself." Anna said proudly. She was wearing bright purple stretch pants with a lime green and orange tie-dye top that we had made last summer when visiting Jake down in La Push. I cringed internally at her choices and quickly came up with my game plan.

"That looks great sweetie, but don't you want to wear one of your pretty dresses for your first day at pre-school?" I prompted. Anna seemed to think over my idea very carefully before a brilliant smile came over her adorable four-year old face and she started hoping up and down in excitement.

"Good idea Mommy, let's go!" She squealed and pulled me out of my comfortable bed and down the hall to her room. I was so grateful that she was able to adjust well to the move and switching schools, but when I caught a glance at the digital clock on the wall that read 6:30 I wished she could have been slightly less energized.

Another upside to the move was that her room was so much bigger than it was in the apartment that I rented back in Seattle. Her dresser drawers seemed to have been torn apart after this morning's search for an outfit. I decided not to make a big deal out of that at the moment; but reminded myself to tell Mona to have Anna clean up when she got home later. Her closet was still in perfect order from when I organized it a few days ago.

"Go ahead and pick one honey." I said hoping that this would be enough freedom for her to get through the rest of the week. Back home I always had trouble trying to get her creative side to go down a notch. She reminded me of Alice in that way. I blinked rapidly, as the memories of the night before came flooding back into my mind. With my luck, how could I have not thought of the possibility that I would run into one of the few people that I wanted to avoid more than anything. All I could hope for is that she will respect my wishes, but knowing Alice the chances of that are very slim.

"Do you like dis one?" Anna asked. She was holding a blue sparkly dress that went to her knee.

"Its perfect baby, I'll just grab you a pair of tights and shoes." I told her and went to rummage through her top drawer until I found a pair of white tights and I grabbed a pair of cute slip on navy shoes for her to wear.

"Do you need help changing?" I asked her. She shook her head so I went to go and check on Mona. I walked down the staircase to her part of the house. When I moved here to help her out she offered to give us the whole second floor since she had trouble getting up the stairs nowadays. I knocked on her door and waited until I heard a faint "come in."

Mona was sitting up in her bed. She gave me a weary smile as I walked in and sat down next to her. Her hair was already starting to fall out in places from the chemo, so as I sat down I brushed her grey hair over a little to cover the bald spot.

"Good morning Dear." She said. "How's the little one?"

"She's good, very excited to start school this morning." I answered.

"That's good."

"So how are you feeling this morning? Do you any help getting up?" I asked.

"No I am fine, you worry too much." She told me.

"Okay, I'm going to go back upstairs and help Anna, if you need me for anything just holler." I said and quickly kissed her wrinkled cheek before running back up to see how much progress my four year old had made, or if she had gotten distracted. I was pleasantly surprised to see her dressed correctly when I got back up to her.

"You look great sweetie. You are such a big girl now; you didn't even need my help." I cheered. She ran over and gave me a hug around the waist since that was as tall as she could reach.

"Thanks Mommy, will you do my hair?" She asked sweetly. I nodded and I quickly ran to the bathroom to grab the box where we kept all of our hair stuff. When I got back I sat down on her bed and patted the spot in front of me for her to sit down. She did and I started brushing through the snarls that had formed over night.

Her hair is gorgeous. I have never been able to bring myself to cut it so it is almost all the way down to her butt. The color is both a blessing and a curse. It is the same beautiful yet strange bronze color that Edward had, and even though it made her look so incredibly cute; every time I saw it I was reminded of her father and the heartbreak I went through. I put her hair into a bun on the top of her head.

"Baby why don't you go brush your teeth while I get ready for work." I suggested.

"Okay." She said and skipped over to the bathroom where I saw her pull her princess step stool in front of the sink. I walked over to my bedroom. My room is pretty simple; I have all of the normal furniture, a bed, dresser, and a desk. My closet is a little small but still enough space to keep all of my clothes. I picked out a black pencil skirt along with a forest green blouse that went well with my pale complexion. I quickly brushed out my hair and decided to just leave it down for the day. I had never been much of a make-up wearer, but I put on some of my favorite lipstick before heading downstairs again to make breakfast.

Mona and Anna were already seated at the table when I got out. My daughter seemed to be showing the older woman one of her many art pieces. Mona made all of the correct noises of appreciation. Bless her.

"Is scrambled eggs alright?" I asked. They nodded in affirmative so I went and gathered everything I needed. As I made the familiar food I tried my hardest not to let my mind slip back to yesterday, but my brain seemed to be in a rebellious mood so that was all I could think of.

Would Alice tell the rest of the Cullens about my sudden appearance? With all of their money it probably would not be too hard for them to find me if they really wanted to. That was the scariest thought, because if they found me that would mean they also found Anna.

I had looked it up after Edward and I broke up; and it wasn't illegal to not inform the father about a pregnancy, but it was frowned upon. What would they do? I know that they would be angry, Alice especially. Getting knocked up by your best friend's brother is generally something you share with said best friend. What would Edward do? Would he try to get custody? Would he ignore her completely? I didn't know which one would be worst. All I did know was that I would not lose my baby no matter what, even if that meant being put in a situation that wasn't ideal for me.

While we ate I listened to Anna's endless babble and let my mind go blank. When we were all done I quickly cleaned up and grabbed Anna's coat and backpack making sure to put the bag lunch in that I had put together the night before inside. I grabbed my briefcase and helped Anna into her coat. I thanked Mona again for agreeing to watch her after school until I found a good sitter. Once we were both ready I packed Anna into her car seat and got in myself. I put on the Disney tunes CD that she loved and it was a twenty minute sing-a-long to the Lots of Love Pre-school.

I found a parking spot in the lot and helped Anna out. She held my hand as we walked up to the main office together. I could sense that her earlier excitement was beginning to be slightly marred by last minute nerves; so I gave her small hand a little squeeze of encouragement. I pressed a button on the wall and waited until we were buzzed into the building.

The main office was right in the front so we walked in there. An older woman sat behind a desk, her name tag read Mrs. Cope. She smiled at us as we walked in and gave a small wave to Anna, who gave a shy smile in return.

"Hi, it's my daughter Anna Swan's first day." I said.

"Okay, just give me a moment to look her up in the system." Mrs. Cope said. "Ah here you are you are in Miss Hale's class."

"Do you want me to walk you there or would you rather have your mommy do it?" Mrs. Cope asked Anna kindly.

"My mom."

"Okay dear." She said and handed me a map. "Miss Hale's room is number five." I smiled in thanks. Anna and I left to go and find her classroom, it was actually pretty easy to find. There were only ten classrooms and they were all in the same hallway. I knocked on the door of number five and a beautiful blond woman who looked to be a few years older than me opened the door. My ego took a small shot as I took in the gorgeous woman; she looked like she should be a model.

"Are you Anna?" She asked. Anna nodded.

"Well hi there, I'm Miss Hale. And you must be Mom; it's nice to meet you." She stuck out her hand to shake mine and I saw an engagement ring on her finger. I shook her hand and introduced myself. Her face got a little confused for a moment when I told her my name but it seemed to clear up within a second so I guessed that I must have imagined it.

"Okay are you ready to come in, I'm sure you will have so much fun." Miss Hale assured Anna. Anna nodded so I gave her a quick kiss and wished her good luck before leaving her with her teacher.

I made my way back to my car and drove the whole thirty minute drive to the Breaking Dawn Publishing Firm lost in my thoughts. When I had lived in Washington I had worked at the same company but I was only a plain editor. But when I told my old boss that I was moving to New York he made a few calls and found out that a senior editor position had opened up in the cooperate branch and with his glowing review I was given the job. It might have helped that my old boss had a slight crush on me… Not that I didn't deserve the job with my own credentials alone.

Throughout the day all of my co-workers seemed very kind and willing to show me the ropes. I had originally been a little worried because everyone always says that New Yorkers are supposed to super rude; but that was not a problem in any way. I had my own assistant; a young man named Eric who seemed very eager to please.

By the time my day was done I was proud of my work for the day. I checked my watch and saw that it was four. Anna was all set to take the school bus home at three thirty, but I gave Mona a call just to make sure that she arrived back home safely. She assured me that Anna was perfectly fine and was currently eating a snack. She let me talk to her for a few minutes before coming back on the line.

"Are you sure that you will be alright Mona? I can skip this session." I offered in a last ditch effort to get out of therapy.

"No, you go, we'll be fine." She said sternly.

"Fine." I said. I drove to the clinic blasting the radio as loudly as I could, hoping to take my mind off of what was coming up. As much as I knew I needed to do this, the thought of revisiting the wounds of my past still freaked me out a bit. I parked outside the hospital office building that held the Shore Counseling Clinic. I walked up the stairs to the sixth floor, procrastinating as much as I could. Finally I made my way to their offices and I pulled the door open. I went up to the receptionist and gave my name. She told me to take a seat and that Dr. Dray would be with me soon.

I had been flipping through a magazine when I heard a familiar voice entering the room. I quickly covered my face with the People Magazine that I had been reading and glanced over the top. Sure enough, there was Carlisle Cullen talking to one of the therapists. Two Cullens in two days; what are the chances? My luck really sucks. I watched the two say goodbye and when he finally walked out the door not sparing me a glance I put down the magazine.

The therapist that had been talking to Carlisle then called my name and I followed him into his office. This is going to be a long hour.

**So that's it, chapter two is done! I want to thank my unofficial Beta, my mother, for taking the time to go over chapters with me. I would also like to thank the three people who reviewed my story, j macphail, UnderlinedSmile, sasandy432, keep it up and to all the rest of you REVIEW! PLEASE! **

**Oh and wish me luck because tonight my basketball team is in the championship round of our tournament! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Sadly Twilight is not mine, but if it was… Ah the things that I would do!**

**Chapter 3**

**Bella P.O.V.**

Therapy ended up not being as bad as I had built it up to be in my mind. Dr. Dray was a very kind older man, probably mid to late fifties. He already knew the basics of why I was coming, but all we really talked about was my background information. He told me we would start actual counseling the next time we met. Until then, he suggested a support group that I could go to that helped victims of domestic violence. I told him I would think about it.

When I got home later that night, Anna helped me put together a tuna casserole, while chattering away about her first day. She had already made many friends and she adored her teacher. Anna has always been a social butterfly, which is so different from how I was as a kid. I kept to myself and stuck to my close knit group of friends. Anna seems to be just as likable as Edward; he always was very popular as a kid.

She told me that she was put at a table with Logan, who picked his nose, Christa, who was really nice, and Jane, who was a big bully. I found her commentary on her classmates highly amusing. Little kids really do not judge on what you look like, they put all of their judgment into people's actions. Their world is so simple that sometimes I find myself a little envious.

Once we had the pan popped into the oven she pulled me into the living room and we unpacked our huge box of VHS tapes that have been with me since I was young. Then Anna picked out her favorite princess movie, The Little Mermaid. We snuggled on the couch until the buzzer went off.

I set her up at the small circular table in our kitchen with her food and a small cup full of milk. After that, I went to go and see if Mona was hungry. I found her sitting on the back porch reading a book.

"What are you reading?" I asked.

"It's this book that one of the young nurses suggested. It's called Twilight, the main character seems to have a serious lack of good judgment. She is dating this supernatural being that could kill her in a second, and on top of that he practically stalks her." She exclaimed. I chuckled at her opinions, I had read the book, and I thought it was very romantic, but I have always been a hopeless romantic.

"Are you hungry? Dinner is done." I said.

"Sure am, help this old bird up, won't you darling?" She teased, but I could tell that she really needed the help. I helped her onto her feet, and we went back into the kitchen. I grabbed two plates out of the cabinet over the countertop and set them down at the open chairs. I scooped some casserole onto my plate and then handed the serving spoon to Mona, who did the same.

"So how was your first day at work, dear?" She asked.

"Oh, it was fine….my coworkers seem nice and I got a lot accomplished." Not finding much interesting about my day and eager to find out more about Anna's, I quickly turned the conversation over to her.

"So, sweetie….tell me all about your day." I said to her with a smile.

"Well, first we all sitted in a circle and said our names. We all got to say one thing about our families, and I said that you and me go fishing with grandpa and I caught the biggest fish last time. Elliot Weisenbaum said that his mom was a doctor for animals at the zoo and said that sometime maybe we could all go visit her there….Can we, momma? Can we, please? I really want to go see her helping the animals…" She answered, all in one breath.

"Sure we can, sweetheart; now tell me some more about your classmates."

"Jane told Abby that she couldn't swing with us at recess, and Abby started to cry. I told Miss Hale and she made Jane sit out for the rest of playtime. Miss Hale says that we all have to treat each other like we're a family cuz at school, it's kind of like we are. Miss Hale is really nice and her hair is really pretty yellow and super shiny. Miss Hale says that we need to ask our parents to fill out the form in my folder for our class directory."

"It was very good of you to go and tell Miss Hale, she seems very smart. After supper you can bring me the paper and I will fill it out." I said. Anna beamed, obviously happy with my praise.

"Okay mommy!" She said. The second she'd scooped her last bite into her mouth, she ran off to find her backpack. She unzipped the zipper and handed me her folder that had a golden retriever puppy on it. Anna had fallen in love with the breed when she was two and I helped my friend out by dog sitting her retriever, Molly. She had been begging me for a puppy ever since.

The form was very basic; name, address, phone number, all of the usual information so I filled it out swiftly and helped Anna get it back into the pockets of her folder without ripping or tearing it.

"Is it a bath night?" I asked her as I started to clear the table. I, of course, already knew the answer but waited for her to tell me anyways.

"Nope." She giggled; she is as bad a liar as I am. I guess that is a good thing for me. I placed our dirty dishes in the sink before turning to face her.

"I'm pretty sure it is." I smiled as I walked towards her.

"Nope, I don't have to take a bath tonight." She said laughing her head off. I scooped her up into my arms and carried her upstairs.

"Whew, someone's stinky, you really need that bath." I said pretending to sniff her as I made it into her room.

"No I don't, momma." She pouted, giving me the jutted out lip.

"Sorry honey, that one only works on Gramps, so grab your pajamas and meet me in the bathroom." I put her down. "If we hurry, we'll be able to read a few more chapters in our book before bedtime." That got her moving; she loves books almost as much as I do. But not the little kid books, oh no - she likes me to read her chapter books. Right now we are making our way through the Junie B. Jones series. She grabbed her purple nightgown and rushed me to the bathroom.

"Mommy, Jason was telling us all about how his dad is coaching his soccer team. Where is my dad?" She asked as I was helping her wash the soap out of her hair.

_What?_

I accidently got some soap in her eyes when I dropped the shower head in shock. Luckily for me, the distraction caused her to forget about her question. I quickly rinsed the shampoo out and hurried her out of the tub. I helped her dry off and get dressed, but my mind was otherwise preoccupied.

Once she was all set and had brushed her teeth; we went back into her room and I read her chapter 5 of Junie B. Jones is not a Crook. When I was finished, I gave her a kiss goodnight and rushed off to my bedroom.

I had always known that the question would come up eventually. Kids, especially Anna, are very curious. I just wasn't expecting the question so soon, particularly after my recent run in with Alice and almost encounter with Carlisle. I needed to come up with an answer that would satisfy my daughter's interest, because I knew this would come up again.

But how are you supposed to tell your four year old daughter that her father doesn't know she even exists because the night that you flew all the way across the country to tell him, you found him cheating? How are you supposed to tell her that the night that was meant to be a celebration; you actually spent crying in a hotel room asking yourself how you could be so stupid? If there was a way to explain that, I sure wasn't aware of it.

**So what do you guys think so far?**

**Do you like Anna and Mona?**

**What do you think about Bella?**

**Do you guys think that I should have Edward seeing someone, answer in a review or the poll on my profile. PLEASE REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! Thanks for reading, be back soon! :D Sorry this update was a bit short, the next chapter will be longer; I promice! **


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Twilight is shockingly not mine, I know, I was surprised when they told me, too!**

**Chapter 4**

**Carlisle P.O.V.**

"Carlisle, I just got off the phone with Edward. He will be about a half an hour late tonight." Esme said as she came and sat down next to me on our leather couch. It was Saturday, so our weekly family dinner was tonight.

"Okay, we will have to find a way to keep Emmett from eating everything before he gets here." I joked and she gave a small chuckle. We continued to watch my medical mystery show until Esme sighed.

"Dear, please give me the remote." Esme said very bored. I reluctantly handed it over. I guess I would never know why all of those boils were growing on his face, but I had learned a long time ago never to get in the way of my wife and the Food Network, it just ends in tears, and sadly I mean my own. Once I had watched my fill of Barefoot Contessa I got up, and went to the kitchen to start preparing the salad. Esme makes everything but the salad because my culinary skills are very, and I mean _very _limited, but I could make one mean bowl of greens.

Just as I was placing the finished product on the counter I heard the sound of the front door opening. I walked over to front hall to see Es hugging Alice and her husband, Jasper. As soon as Ali saw me she detached herself from her mother and practically jumped me; giving a bear hug that would have made Emmett proud. She had always been a huge daddy's girl. I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and shook Jasper's hand.

"Everyone go and sit down; I'll just finish up dinner." Esme announced.

"I'll give you a hand." Jasper said following her into the kitchen. Alice is as dreadful of a chef as me, so we went out to the patio.

"Are you alright honey? You seem lost in thought." I asked after she broke her record of going more than a whole minute without talking. Alice is very rarely quiet; she always has something to say.

"Something happened the other day, and I just cannot stop thinking about it." She admitted. We took a seat on the lounge chairs that were situated around the picnic table and I motioned for her to continue. It must have been something serious because Alice has never been one to get super worked up. Esme, Alice, and Emmett have always been able to brush things off like it was a piece of gum on their shoes. Edward, though not my son biologically, was a lot more like me in the way that we brood over things and have a hard time letting go.

"I saw Bella." She blurted. "She's living in the city now." I blinked a few times taking in this new information.

"You mean Bella Swan; I presume." I said; just to make sure we were talking about the same person.

"What other Bella would I be talking about?" She asked.

"I was just checking. So did you talk to her?" I asked. I could tell from the pained look on her face that the answer was yes, and that it had not been the joyful reunion that Alice would have wanted.

"I did; she said that her life was dramatic enough, and if I cared about her I would leave her alone. Do you remember Angela Weber from Forks?" She said sadly, I was surprised by the random question, but nodded my head vaguely remembering Bella's old friend.

"I saw Bells at this open mic night at my favorite café. She sang this really morbid song about someone who hurt her really badly; at first I thought it might have been about Edward. But then she got off the stage and started talking to Angela about this James guy who the song was about. Angela said he is jail, Daddy, for something he did to Bella!" She cried; a few tears trickled down her cheek, and she brushed them away. I grabbed her hand that was resting on the table and gave her a comforting squeeze.

"What could he have done that would send him to jail?" She asked. If I wasn't trying to protect her feelings, and my own for that matter; I would have told her that there are a lot of things it could be, bad things. Instead I told her that I was unsure. There is no point worrying her over something that she was uncertain of.

"How did she look?" I asked curiously, it had been a very long time since any of us had seen Bella; ever since Edward and she split up. Not that any of us actually know why they broke up. One day Edward had just showed up at our door looking lost telling us that he had messed up and Bella had broken up with him. Sure we all had our theories, but no matter how much Alice and Emmett pressed him Edward would not waver in his silence. Bella had been avoiding all of our calls like the plague, so we never really found out the truth.

It had been hard, especially on Alice; she had lost her best friend. She had been pissed off at Ed for a really long time, going to such lengths as boycotting family dinners, so she would not have to be around him. They had eventually gotten over the rift after Edward had done a lot of groveling and bought many pairs of shoes. Esme and I had been rather upset as well. Bella had been like another daughter to us; she had practically spent half of her life in our house. Edward, he was never the same. If he dated more after the break up he didn't care to share it with us. I doubt that he hasn't been with anyone, but nothing serious; that's for sure.

"She looked excellent, but really different." Alice said.

"How do you mean?" I asked confused.

"I don't know how to explain it; she just looked like a grown up." Alice exclaimed irritably.

"Ali she is twenty four now; Bella is supposed to look different than she did when she was nineteen." I reasoned. Alice just nodded; I could tell that there was more she wanted to say.

"She has just changed so much, Dad. I don't even know who she is anymore. The Bella I knew would never have had the nerve to say the things she said to me, and she most defiantly would not have been wearing designer jeans and a tight tank top. Bella used to be the most conservative dresser I had ever met and now guys drool when she walks by. I just have missed my best friend for so long, but I'm starting to wonder if she is even the same girl anymore." Alice admitted.

"I'm sure the Bella that we all knew and love is still there; she is just different. From what you told me I can infer that she has had a rough couple of years; she is probably just trying to find herself again. And you should be happy; you were always saying you wanted her to be more fashion forward. Now she is!" I pointed out.

"But Dad; none of this even matters if I have no idea how to find her; New York is a big place…" She trailed off and I knew what she wanted.

"I'll see what I can find out." I assured her.

"ALICE, WHERE ARE YOU LITTLE PIXIE?!" The familiar booming voice of my oldest son cut off any further conversation. Emmett was soon rushing through the door and pulling his younger sister into one of his suffocating hugs. The boy may be twenty eight years old, built like a bear, and engaged, but he still was just that; a boy.

"Hey Pops; how's it been?" He asked me in typical Emmett fashion.

"Great son, how are you and Rose?" I asked giving him a man hug. He got that stupid smile on his face that he always got when talking about his fiancé.

"Oh you know; Rosie and I are always pretty good." He said. I would have told him to take a seat, but Esme called us in for supper, so Emmett was out of there in two seconds flat. Alice and I exchanged knowing smiles before heading in ourselves.

oOoOoOo

Dinner tasted fabulous; like always. Esme had made grilled salmon; one of my favorite dishes. I was seated between Es and Rose. We all held hands and said grace; my family isn't extremely religious, but I grew up in a tremendously Catholic house, so they all humor me.

Jasper was telling us all about one of his coworkers when we heard Edward come in. He said a quick hello to everyone, and then took his seat putting the food we had saved for him on his plate.

"How was work Edward?" Esme asked. Edward looked thoughtful for a moment before he answered.

"It was fine." He said shortly. He is always like that; a man of few words. Edward has never been one to easily express his feelings; I have a feeling it goes back to his life before we adopted him. We don't talk about the first eleven years of his life often. Edward has always been pretty tight lipped on the subject of his childhood, but from things he has said and what we learned from his social worker, Maya, we could tell it wasn't very good.

"How was your day Rosalie?" I asked trying to divert the attention from Eddie; Esme liked to get her information, but she could be easily sidetracked.

"It was excellent. There is this new girl; Anna, she is just the sweetest little thing. Carlisle can I use your printer after supper; ours broke and I have to get class directories handed out."

"Sure; it's in my office." I said.

"I know."

"I have news." Emmett exclaimed suddenly. We all turned our attention to him; I noticed that his whole expression radiated excitement.

"An old friend of mine from college called me up the other day and told me that the gym teacher at his school was in an accident and can't teach anymore. I went in for the interview and they gave me the job."

"Darling; that's wonderful!" Esme said ecstatic jumping out of her seat to give him a hug. Emmett had been working as a gym teacher at an elementary school down in Brooklyn up until a few months ago went they let over half of their staff go, ever since he had been subbing and pretty much doing any work that came his way. Rose and Em are both teachers, but Rose teaches pre-school. They met in college, and have been together almost ever since. There was a while a year or so ago that they were apart, but it was mostly spent trying to make the other jealous.

"Congrats Bro; we should go and get a drink next week to celebrate." Edward offered.

"Great idea, Jasper are you in? Beers at Lou's Tavern sounds exactly like what I need."

"Sure." Jasper said happily. Small conversations were struck out around the table, and eventually we all finished our meals. Once the table had been cleared to my wife's expectations, we all moved into the den. Rose excused herself to my office quickly and returned a few minutes later with a stack of paper.

"Hey Ali, do you like the design?" Rose asked showing her one of the pages. Alice let out a gasp.

"Oh My Gosh!"

"I thought it was pretty too." Rose said, but Alice shook her head her eyes not leaving the paper.

"Dear, is something wrong?" Esme asked. Alice said nothing; only laid the paper down on the table and pointed to a name; Anna Lynn Swan. Under parent's name: Isabella Swan.

oOoOoOo

**Edward P.O.V.**

"Where are you going?" The girl tangled in sheets asked sleepily. Tracey, I think that's her name.

"Work." I said as I finished putting on my scrubs.

"Well that's rude; not even a good morning, or a wow last night was great." She said sarcastically before getting out of bed. She made no move the shield herself before walking over to me.

"Look I'm sorry; I was supposed to have the day off, but there was an emergency." I said making up a lie off the top of my head. She huffed, and quickly put her clothes on. She followed me all the way to the door. As I was walking out the door she handed me a card.

"Call me." She said seductively. I gave her a crooked smile.

"Maybe…"

She pouted at me as I left. I'm kind of a dick; I'll admit it. I have no intention of calling her, or any of the other girls that had given me their numbers the morning after. I wasn't in the commitment kind of place. I messed up my last serious relationship, and I had no intention of doing that again.

I hopped in my Volvo and stopped at McDonalds on my way to the hospital; picking up a hash brown and some coffee. I know those things are awful for me, but they are just so good! Work was rather uneventful. One of our long time patients passed away and that is always sad, but there was really nothing more we could do to stop the cancer.

oOoOoOo

"Hey Ed, can I come in for a moment?" Allison asked knocking on my office door. Allison is for all intents and purposes my boss, but she rarely has to order me around. I'm good at my job; one of the best in the field, and I rarely screw up.

"Okay." I looked up from my computer screen. She is a rather beautiful woman, and a rather married one, too. She has long blond hair and a kind face that always seems to make patients trust her.

"I'll cut straight to the chase; I'm pregnant and I probably won't be coming back after the pregnancy because Arthur is getting deployed in a couple months and we decided to move back to Michigan so our baby can grow up around family." She said. "I want to recommend you to take over my position, but I just felt that that I should check with you first."

"Wow, congrats to you and Arthur." I said genuinely happy for them. "And I would be pleased to take over your position."

"Thanks Edward, now I can hand in my two week notice and not feel guilty." She left after that and soon after I did as well.

Before heading over to my parents place I stopped at my apartment. I took a shower and changed into some casual clothes. I felt odd the whole ride over to Carlisle and Esme's. It was just a small feeling of anxiety in the pit of my stomach telling me that something was off. I pushed that to the side though; I had nothing to be worried about other than Esme's many questions that were sure to be asked at dinner.

Dinner was normal; Esme's cooking was superb as usual, and I was able to get off with very minimal speaking. I was happy for Emmett; I know that he has been looking for work like crazy. I ended up sitting next to him on couch in the den.

"So what kind of school are you working at?" I asked.

"This prissy all girls boarding school uptown. I just hope none of them have any crushes on me; Rose almost killed the last girl and she was only eleven. All these girls are between fifteen and eighteen, and you know how Rosie gets…" He trailed off. Oh did I know how my soon to be sister in law gets!

Let's just say that the two of us have never gotten along, and that's putting it lightly. She is very shallow; at least in my opinion. Sure, some self-confidence is good, but when it puts other people down it's not good. I don't know; everyone else loves her.

She walked in disrupting my inner ramblings by showing Alice her paper. I'll give her this; Rosalie is a wonderful teacher. Ali had gone quiet staring at the paper. I heard Rose say something and Esme after that, but I could not understand what they were saying. No because my curiosity had gotten the best of me and I had looked at the paper only to see the name that haunted me like a bad dream for the past five years.

Isabella Swan.

Just hearing, or should I say reading, her name sends a flood of emotions through my body; love, sadness, anger, frustration, regret, but mostly guilt. And she has a kid! Bella with a child that is not mine is unimaginable. I get that we have been broken up for almost five years now, and that she must have moved on, but for her to have a child in Rose's class the kid would have to be three or four years old.

"Well it looks like I won't need to use your resources at all dad." Alice said quietly.

"What does that mean?" I asked angrily.

"I saw Bella a few days ago at a café; she was singing at the open mic night. I tried to talk to her, but she asked me to leave her alone." My younger admitted sadly. My rage diminished; sometimes I forgot that I was not the only one that had been hurt by Bella's disappearance. My whole family lost and they never did anything; it was my fault.

"I just can't wrap my head around the fact that Bella is a mom." Esme` said softly, Carlisle wrapped an arm around her shoulders. I snuck a glance at Rose and Emmett. Emmett just looked gloomy; he had always seen Bella as another sister. Rose on the other hand had a look of understanding on her face.

"What is it?" I asked her.

"I knew I recognized her name when she introduced herself t me, but for the life of me I could not think of where I had heard it before. I must have heard someone mention her at some point."

"What is her daughter like?" Alice asked suddenly excited. "Does she look a lot like her? I wonder who the father is. Do you know if she is married?"

"Anna is the sweetest little thing, I may not know this woman, but I can tell you she is a wonderful mother. She isn't married I don't think; she had no ring when I met her. She's either divorced or the dad is some burn out." Rose said unenthusiastically. I don't know why, but the fact that Bella was not married made me very happy. But it should not make me happy, she has a daughter. She will want no part of me now.

"She doesn't look much like her mom. Anna has similar facial features I guess, and they have the same eye color, but her hair is the weird red-coppery color. Almost exactly like yours Edward." She said. Her eyes suddenly grew as big as saucers, as did everyone else's.

"No," slipped out of my mouth as I started running through the chances in my head. The timeline would be right and there was the hair thing, but that didn't make it for sure that she was indeed my daughter as well. This couldn't be happening. I knew one thing though.

I needed to talk to Bella. Pronto.

oOoOoOo

**So that's it and a bit of a cliff hanger. Sorry! Very few people answered my poll, only two in fact and they were both different, so I went for in between and made him a bit of a womanizer. Please get that Edward is not a bad guy; he has just been making some bad decisions. Hope you all enjoyed. Please, please, please, REVIEW! I want to hear what you think.**

**P.S. I changed a small part of the story; I had originally said that Alice and Edward were twins, but then I came up with a different idea, so I went back to the first chapter and changed it. I just wanted to let you all know in case any of you were confused.  
**

**P.S.S. REVIEW!  
**


	5. Chapter 5

**Last Time:**

_"What is her daughter like?" Alice asked suddenly excited. "Does she look a lot like her? I wonder who the father is. Do you know if she is married?"_

_"Anna is the sweetest little thing, I may not know this woman, but I can tell you she is a wonderful mother. She isn't married I don't think; she had no ring when I met her. She's either divorced or the dad is some burn out." Rose said unenthusiastically. I don't know why, but the fact that Bella was not married made me very happy. But it should not make me happy, she has a daughter. She will want no part of me now._

_"She doesn't look much like her mom. Anna has similar facial features I guess, and they have the same eye color, but her hair is the weird red-coppery color. Almost exactly like yours Edward." She said. Her eyes suddenly grew as big as saucers, as did everyone else's._

_"No," slipped out of my mouth as I started running through the chances in my head. The timeline would be right and there was the hair thing, but that didn't make it for sure that she was indeed my daughter as well. This couldn't be happening. I knew one thing though._

_I needed to talk to Bella. Pronto._

**Chapter five**

**Edward P.o.V.**

"What does it say her address is?" I asked. I had to go and see her; I had to know the truth.

"Edward; it's almost eight o'clock; you should wait. There is a chance that she won't even be home." Esme said calmly, but I was beyond being reasoned with.

"She has a daughter and she just moved to a new city." I replied.

"So?" Emmett asked dumbly.

"She won't have a babysitter yet."

"Oh…"

"Eddie wait; if you're going then so am I. She is my best friend." Alice said fiercely. Not having the motivation or the time to fight with her I just nodded my head. Alice gave Jasper a quick kiss and I said goodbye to everyone before taking the paper from Rosalie. I quickly added the address into the GPS app on my iphone, and grabbed my things. Alice and I hopped into my Volvo in silence. We didn't talk the whole drive; to lost in our own thoughts to worry about the other's.

**oOoOoOoOo**

**Bella P.O.V.**

"What are we going to do tonight Mommy?" Anna asked after we had finished supper. Mona was at her quilting circle, so it was just the two of us for the night.

"I don't know honey. What do you want to do?" I asked.

"Can we go to the park?" She asked with her big doe eyes. Anna hadn't been many places in the city yet; basically she had only been to and from school and the pizza place a few blocks away. I actually didn't know where any parks were so when she went to go and change into some better play clothes I looked it up and found one that wasn't too far.

I quickly ran upstairs and changed out of my work clothes and into my favorite pair of Levi jeans and my old U.W. Seattle hoodie. Anna came out of her room at the same time I did wearing a red t-shirt with hearts on it and a pair of plain black basketball shorts that my dad had given her at her last birthday along with a mini hoop to go into her room. Charlie thinks that Anna is going to be a basketball sensation someday. I just hope she doesn't get my old coordination. Even though I had grown out of most of my clumsiness I still am prone to very embarrassing spills.

"Go grab your jacket." I told her; she ran off to the closet and pulled out her blue one, she has a few. I grabbed my cell phone and my purse before ushering her out the door. I quickly locked up the house and grabbed the wagon from our shed. I realized the hard way that walking really is the best way to get anywhere in New York. Anna sat down inside and I quickly dropped my purse in next to her.

Even though the park was only a mile or so away my arm was killing me by the time we got there. I steered Anna towards the slide and hoped prayed that she would not want to go on the swings for a while. While she entertained herself by going down the slides and playing hide-and-go-seek with the other children I started to look at a new book that I had to look over. I sighed as I read the summary; yet another vampire book.

I was happy to see that even though it was a common genre, Bree Tanner, the author, had kept most of the book very original. There were a few grammar mistakes here and there that had to be fixed, but overall it was a good story. After finishing about three chapters I felt a tugging on my sweatshirt. Anna was hopping up and down impatiently.

"What's up Anna?"

"Can I go on the monkey bars with Trevor?" She asked.

"Who's Trevor?" I asked. She pointed to a young boy; probably four or five, who was staring at us and standing by the monkey bars. I said yes, and packed up all of my stuff following her over. I have always told Anna that if she wanted to go on the monkey bars she had to ask first; because when I was fourteen I babysat for this boy, Nate Perkins, and I turned around for one minute and the next I heard crying. He had fallen off the monkey bars and broke his leg. Yeah… that was the last time I babysat.

While I stood watching the two closely I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see a short, blond haired woman who seemed to be mid to late thirties looking up at me.

"Hi I'm Barbra, Trevor's Mom." She introduced herself with a big smile that was almost creepy.

"Bella." I shook the hand that she offered me and gave her a small smile. I had never been one to talk to random strangers so I turned my attention back to the kids. This however, did not seem to put her off.

"They must pay you a lot of money to watch that one." She said gesturing to Anna. "She's rather… rambunctious." I stared at her wide-eyed for a second.

"Excuse me?" I said confused.

"Her parents, they must give you the big bucks for watching her." She said.

"_My Daughter _has the perfect amount of energy for someone her age." I said with a slight edge in my tone.

"Your daughter? Oh darling you must tell me your secret you don't look a day over twenty five. I never would have guessed that you have a child." She said annoyingly jolly.

"I'm only twenty four." I replied mutinously.

"Oh! But you couldn't have been more than nineteen or twenty when you had her then." She said her happy façade dropping only to be replaced by a look of deep disapproval. I was beyond irritated by this point, not only had she indirectly insulted my daughter, but I could tell by the look on her face that she was making very rude judgments about me.

"So, what does age have to do with anything? My daughter is a delight to be around and I am a damn good mom, probably ten times better than judgmental bitches like you. Now if you excuse me; I don't think that I want my daughter to play with your son." I quickly collected Anna; my heart still pounding from my verbal smack down with Barbra. I allowed myself one look over my shoulder as I stomped away; I was pleased to see her looking completely dumbfounded. Good, teach her to make snap judgments.

The further away I got the more I calmed down. I knew that I had overreacted by not letting Anna play with her son. It was immature, and probably did more to hurt her opinion of me that my little speech did, but I am so tired of being judged by women who know nothing of my situation.

I had encountered woman like her; especially when I was actually pregnant. They all thought that since I was young there was no way I could be a good parent. I hated it. I did something that most women my age wouldn't have even thought possible in my situation. Not only did I graduate college, top of my class by the way, I got a great job that pays well, and I did it all on my own.

My father is a great man, but he is in no way rich. He has worked as chief of police in my small hometown of Forks for as long as I can remember, and public servants don't really roll in the dough. The only reason that I got to go to such a great college is that I had been offered an academic scholarship. So when I told my dad I was pregnant, there wasn't much he could do for me in the way of financial support. Sure, he helped out with whatever he could, but I had to make my own money.

I guess you could say that I am a loaded gun when it comes to the topic of money. That was the one real strain between the Cullens and me when we were all close. Alice and Edward were never able to understand why I objected to being given expensive gifts and such. They had grown up wealthy and had no problem using their wealth to buy themselves lavish things once and a while, but I liked to save my money as a teen. It turned out to be a good thing because the money that I had saved really helped me out during the first few weeks of my pregnancy when I was jobless.

"Mommy; why are you so upset?" Anna asked after we had gotten a few blocks away from the park.

"I'm not upset; the lady at the park just said something mean." I explained.

"What did she say?" She asked innocently. I sighed at my daughter's curiosity.

"Grown up things; there's nothing for you to worry about." I assured her.

"I know what would make you feel better." She said with a huge grin on her face.

"What?"

"ICE CREAM!" She shouted and pointed across the street to a quaint little ice cream parlor whose sign read Ruth's Finest Custard. Anna really is my daughter; I used to con my mother into getting me treats all the time. She was never the best mother….

"I guess we deserve a treat." I said and she bounced up and down in the wagon.

"Look both ways before you cross the street Momma." She reminded me as I made my way to the crosswalk. I smiled and guaranteed her that I would.

I wasn't sure what I was going to do with the wagon, but when I spotted a bike rack a very weird idea came to mind. I pulled the wagon over and rummaged though my huge bag; Jake always calls it the zombie apocolypse bag because there is just about everything we would need to hide out if there ever was a zombie apocolypse. I pulled out a pair of handcuffs that my dad may or may not have taught me how to use before I moved to New York. I skillfully locked the handle of the wagon up to the rack and helped Anna out. I grabbed my purse and kept a tight hold on Anna's hand walking up to the doors of Ruth's.

I have always been very anxious about Anna some how wandering away or someone taking her, but ever since we moved to New York my worries have increased. I know in my brain that the probability of anything happening is very slight, but when you read as many mystery books as I do; you start to be a little over cautious.

The parlor made me feel like I had just walked through a portal and ended up in the fifties. There were jukeboxes and poodle skirts and everything. There was a family of three sitting in a booth by the window and two servers standing behind the counter. They both smiled at us as we walked in.

I went to the first one, an old woman with curly white hair and a kind smile.

"What can I get for you?" She asked

"I'll take a chocolate with peanut butter cookie dough in a cone, and she will have mint chocolate chip in a dish." I ordered already knowing what Anna would want.

"One scoop or two?"

"Two!" Anna said excitedly.

"Sorry honey, but nice try. We'll both have one scoop." I said assertively.

"Okay dears, they will be right up." I led Anna over to a table for two; the chairs were kind of high so I had to lift Anna into hers.

"Momma; when are we going to see Grandpa?" Anna asked.

"He's going to come up and visit us over Christmas, baby." I told her. Anna and Charlie had always had a very special bond. From the very first day at the hospital the little girl had her gramps wrapped around her teeny, tiny finger. He actually cried the first time he held her. Yeah, the emotional rock that is my father actually shed some tears. I knew Anna was having a hard time going from see Charlie once a week to now once a month.

"Christmas is a looong time away Mommy." She said sadly.

"How about I set up a video chat; like how I talk to Angela on the computer, that way you can see Grandpa Charlie." I suggested.

"That's a great idea, you are so smart momma!" She exclaimed just as a waitress brought us our ice cream. I quickly pulled the five dollars that we owed out of my purse and handed it to the woman.

"Thanks have a good night y'all." She said with an extremely southern accent.

"You too." Anna said sweetly. The girl melted at my daughter's cuteness.

"Darling you are just so adorable I think I could just eat you right up." She said with a smile.

"Don't eat me! If you are hungry you can have a bite of my ice cream though." Anna exclaimed and held up her spoon to the stranger.

"I wouldn't want to take any of Ruth's finest custard away from ya'; sweet cheeks. Have a great rest of the day ladies." She gave us one more smile before running up to the register to put the money away and then leaving.

Anna and I finished up our treats, and headed home. I was much happier walking now then I had been before; my daughter always seems to have the power to cheer me up. When we got back to our home there was an unfamiliar car in our driveway, a Volvo. I didn't think much of it; it is probably one of Mona's friends.

"Mona we are home; where are you." I announced as we walked through the door.

"I'm in the den dear, I have a surprise for you." She yelled back. I helped Anna out of her coat and hung both hers and mine up in the closet before heading to the den with her following me curio sly; no doubt wondering what the surprise was. What I saw in the den sure was a surprise; I'll tell you that.

"Anna go up to your room." I ordered.

"But Mom-…" She started to argue, but I cut her off.

"Go." I said forcefully.

"Fine." She pouted before running back down the hall. My aunt was looking at me funny, but all I could focus on were the two not so strangers sitting on my couch.

"What the hell are you two doing here?" I raged.

"Bella honey, what is going on? They said they were old friends of yours so I let them in. Should I not have?" Mona asked. I instantly calmed down; this was only as bad of a situation as I made it out to be.

"You two need to leave right now." I said calmly. Alice looked sad, but Edward seemed blank of emotion, the only thing that showed how much he was struggling with the situation at hand was his fist which was clenched tightly at his side.

"Bella; I know I don't deserve anything from you…" Edward started. I was very unhappy to notice that he was just as gorgeous as he used to be, but more manly. He still had the same uncontrollable hair and crooked smile. Well I guess my dreams of him turning out to be fat with a comb over were dashed.

"Yeah you don't." I said coldly.

"But, my family, they do. And even though I was a total ass I deserve to know if I have a child in this world." He said pleadingly. I looked back and forth between the two of them, and I knew I was trapped.

"Fine." I sighed and took a seat in the recliner on the opposite side of the room from them. It was going to be a long night.

oOoOoOoOo

**So that's it for now; I hope you enjoyed. I don't know when my next update will be, but I am going to be very busy for the next few weeks because I was recently cast in the lead role of my school play, and have practices almost everyday. Since it might be a while until my next update; I thought I would reward some of my loyal fans; anyone who reviews this chapter I will PM you a preview of the next chapter in EPoV once I have gotten some done. So review away!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**Edward P.O.V.**

**~~~~Five Years Prior~~~~ **

"Come on man; you have got to get out more. All you do is study and sleep. You are in college; live a little." My roommate, Fred, was riding me once again. He was a frat boy, and could not seem to understand that some of us actually came to learn instead of party.

"I have a huge test in anatomy tomorrow; I have to study." I shrugged at him and went back to my text book. The test is worth half of my grade, and I could not afford to not do well; I had messed up on my last essay. This would be a chance to redeem myself. I also was supposed to get a call from Bella tonight, but I didn't want to tell him about that.

"The party is going to be epic, and half the girls on campus already want to sleep with you. I heard that even Tanya fricken Denali has the eyes for you; not hitting that is like a crime against men everywhere."

"Dude, how many times do I have to tell you that I have a girlfriend?" I asked irritated.

"Yeah; but its Tanya fricken Denali!"

"Well that changes everything." I said heavily sarcastic.

"Really?" Fred said obviously not picking up on my tone.

"I don't understand how you even got into this college." I sighed exasperated.

"My cousin's friend is the dean." He said unaffected by my remark. "How about I make you a deal? You come to this party, and I won't bug you for the rest of the month."

"What is so damn important about this party?" I asked.

"It's the biggest party of the year and you got an invite. I didn't, but you can take a friend. Be a pal Edward; I would do it for you."

"The rest of the year." I said.

"What?"

"If I go you will not bug me for the rest of the year." I said.

"Fine, whatever. Is that a yes?" When I nodded he jumped up and down like a little girl in Disney land.

"I so owe you man."

"Yeah you do." He made me change out of the stained t-shirt and cargo shorts I had been wearing into jeans and a polo; which I did after insulting the polo a few times. I mean who other than a frat boy own fifteen different polo shirts?

The party was being held at some senior's house; apparently his family went to Greece for the month and the house had just been sitting there. I mean how much more of a cliché can this party get. We walked in the front door and Fred was immediately grabbed by some of his friends and dragged into the backyard to play strip poker. They invited me along, but I declined with as straight of a face as I could.

"EDWARD!" I heard my name being called. Even though the whole place was packed it was still easy to find my brother and his huge figure in the crowd.

"Bro; I didn't know you were coming tonight." He slurred his speech a little cuing me into the fact that he was already wasted; which was what I needed to be if I were to live through this party.

"Em; where's the beer?" I asked.

"It's in the cooler in the kitchen."

"Thanks." I said and slipped away before he could tell me more about his latest girlfriend Rosalie Hale. Whenever my dear older brother gets drunk he always tells me tales from his multiple times in the sack with his at-the-time girlfriend. And as much as I _love _those times my night was going to be bad enough as it is.

I found the kitchen and cooler very easily and grabbed a bud light out. I had just taken a sip when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see the blond bomb shell that is Tanya Denali, or as Fred referred to her Tanya Fricken Denali.

I could see why all of the guys fawned over her, she is very beautiful. Tanya has strawberry blond hair and a body that all girls want, but I had always been more of a brunette man.

"Hey Edward; it's a surprise to see you here." She said.

"Yeah, it's not really my usual scene." I agreed and took a swig of my beer. She grabbed a hard lemonade out of the cooler and gave me a sexy smile before taking a long gulp.

"You really don't seem like a party boy; I'll give you that, but sometimes letting loose a little is a good thing." She purred grabbing onto my arm.

"It was my roommate's idea." I said and shrugged her arm off of me, but if that discouraged her she didn't let it show.

"So Eddie; we have been in the same classes for the past three months, and have never really gotten to know each other. You want to talk?" She asked.

"Please don't call me Eddie." I said not answering her question.

"We are learning things about each other already; now come on lets go." She said and pulled me out of the kitchen and out the door back into the front yard. She found a bench and sat us down.

"What do you want Tanya?" I said irritated. If what Fred said was true this night was not looking good for me.

"I just wanted to talk Ed." She purred.

"Well I have a girlfriend who I love. I don't think she would appreciate me _talking _to you." I said.

"Wow she really has you on a leash. Do you only hang out with people your _girlfriend _approves of?" She sneered.

"I hang out with whomever I like." I said and finished off me beer. I left her in search of a new one. Girls are so irritating sometimes. Isn't there supposed to be some sort of_ girl code _that tells you to back off of other girl's boyfriends?

By the end of the night I was so drunk that everything around me was blurred. I slightly remembered going back behind the garage in search of Fred, I vaguely recalled pulling that asshole off of Tanya's screaming figure, and the bruise on my cheek the next day told me that he didn't go off without a fight.

I loosely remembered Tanya thanking me very enthusiastically and with quite a few kisses. The rest is practically a blur, but the morning after was not.

**oOoOoOoOo**

**E P.O.V. Present**

"Yes; you are her father." Bella chocked out. And with those five words ladies and gentleman my life as it was changed in everyway possible. No one spoke for a few moments. Alice, Bella and I seemed to be staring at each other daring each other to go first. Bella's aunt seemed just plain uncomfortable; she obviously was torn between staying and leaving. Finally the silence was broken with a shriek.

"How the hell could you keep her from us?!" Alice yelled jumping to her feet. Bella's face looked pained for a moment, but it swiftly returned to her icy glare.

"It wasn't my first choice, but I did what I needed to do to make sure _my _daughter was going to have a happy life." Bella said calmly. Regret washed through me life a water fall, but Alice didn't stop her rampage.

"Oh happy life my ass; what pray tell would have made her life so unhappy that you had to keep her from half of her family." Alice roared. Bella was about to rebut, but I cut her off.

"Alice stop." I said firmly. Alice turned to me and gave me a look that plainly said, _are you senile? _Bella stared at me open mouthed for a moment, but hastily shut it after a second.

"You never told them did you Edward?" She said softly. Just hearing her say my name brought shivers to my skin. I shook my head in shame; not having the guts to look her in the eye I starred at the brown carpet.

"Told us what?" Alice asked, her curiosity causing her to cease yelling.

"He never told you why we broke up did he?" She spat out. Oh, she was still mad. I guess I probably would be too, if the roles were in reverse. Alice said nothing just stared between us.

"I flew all the way across the country to tell my _loving _boyfriend that I was knocked up; only to find him in bed with some blonde bimbo." She exclaimed angrily. Alice looked at me in shock and disbelief. I could see her putting the pieces together in her head until she finally exploded. She rounded on me, her face red with anger and fire practically coming from her ears.

"You Bastard! How could you do that? She was my best friend! When you started dating you promised me that you would never hurt her!" I had no response and it seemed that Alice could go on, but before Alice had even opened her mouth Bella's aunt started to speak.

"Might I remind you all that there is a young girl upstairs? If you would all mind your language and volume, and act your ages it would be much appreciated." She said before walking out of the room. We all watched her leave for a few moments before finally facing each other.

With Mona's mention of Anna my mind flew to her. I had caught just a tiny glance of her before Bella sent her to her room, but I did see how beautiful she was. There was no child in the world that could be even close to that cute. I wondered what she was like, what her favorite thing to do was, what her favorite movie was, and her favorite food. I wanted to know absolutely everything about a girl who yesterday I had not even known existed.

"You were going to tell us." Alice stated.

"I was going too, but when I found out that Edward could not even commit to a woman I realized there was no way he would be able to commit to taking on a child." She said with only a hint of malice, but no regret.

"I grew up in a house where just my existence was a hassle. I remember always thinking it was my fault that my mom couldn't accept me, that if I just behaved better and got good grades; she would love me like all other moms loved their kids. But when she left I finally understood that it was nothing that I, or my dad, or anybody had done. My mother was a selfish person, and selfish people were not meant to have kids. I wasn't going to have Anna ever feel like a hassle. I was happier with just Charlie than I was with both of my parents anyways." If I hadn't already been feeling like shit before I was now.

Bella's home life had never been a secret to our family. Alice and Bella had been with each other practically their whole lives, and by the time the Cullens adopted me Bella's parents were already finalizing their divorce. But I was there for the aftermath, the nights Bella spent at our house after a grueling therapy session, not able to go home and face what her family had become. I had unknowingly become Renee, at least to Bella I had. In my mind though, I was as different from the flighty mother Bella knew as I could be. I had only caught a glimpse of my daughter, but I already knew that I loved her more than I had loved anyone ever. Now I just needed Bella to let me prove this.

"Bella; I screwed up big time. I don't blame you for hating me, but please give me a chance to do right by my daughter. That little girl is half of me; I want to know her. I don't want her to ever think that her dad didn't care enough to be around for her; because I do. So please just let me be a father to my daughter." I begged. Bella was quiet for a while; her eyes never left my face. She must have been trying to guess how committed I was to this. She must have seen something because with one word my life was going to be forever changed.

"Okay."

**AN: That's it for now, Review, review, review.**

**Hey, do you know what cool people do?**

**They REVIEW stories. Tell me what you think (:**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to SM; I just own the storyline...**

**Chapter 7**

**Bella P.o.V.**

"Okay." I sighed exasperated. This was all too much; I just wanted to go to sleep.

"Really?" Edward asked shocked.

"Maybe; I don't know. I don't trust you Edward Cullen. Before you get anywhere near my daughter you will have to gain my trust back. Before that little girl knows that you are anything other than an old friend of mine I have to know that you are in this for good." I said. I couldn't believe I was doing this; more than anything I wanted to push them both out of my house, but could I really do that to the other Cullens? To Anna?

The Cullens, excluding Edward, had done nothing to make me keep them out of Anna's life, and they had been so good to me growing up. They were like a second family to me; there were even times when I had felt closer to them than to my biological family. Esme and Carlisle practically raised me. Emmett and Alice were like siblings to me for the first eighteen years of my life; it wasn't their fault that Edward was a dick. Could I really keep them from their niece? Was that really the kind of person I was now?

And Anna... Could I really deny her the big family that I know she has always craved. Sure she loves Charlie and me, and I know that she considers Angela, Ben, and Jacob her aunt and uncles, but they are all on the other side of the country. Can I really keep her from knowing about the wonderful people that she is related to just because of something that Edward did. I knew in my gut that I would feel extremely guilty if I did.

"So you aren't going to tell her that I'm her dad." Edward asked sadly.

"You are not her dad, you are her father. It takes a lot more than genes to make you someone's dad. If you can prove to me that you are worthy of being a dad to Anna; only then will I tell her. But, I'm telling you right now if I tell her, and then you bail on her I will track you down and kill you." I exclaimed seriously. Edward actually looked a little bit scared of me.

"What about the rest of us? We all want to see her." Alice stated firmly. She looked so sad that I felt just the tiniest bit guilty for not telling the Cullens back when I was actually pregnant. I had no doubt that Ali would have stood by me, and I know she would have been a damn good aunt. But, I also know that there is now way that she would have kept it from Edward, neither would the other Cullens. No matter how much of an ass I thought Edward was I didn't want to set his family against him.

"I'll let you see her, but you can't tell her the truth either. She is smart, she would figure it out." I said steadily, but Alice wasn't deterred.

"I'll do whatever you want, and I know that the rest of us will agree too, we just want to know Anna." She sounded resigned. I was just happy that they agreed, because I knew that the Cullens had lots of resources, and Alice was usually not one to give up so easily.

"We are going to take this slow, Anna can be introduced to you all slowly, one at a time, not all at once." I said. I was already trying to think of ways for the Cullens to meet Anna when Alice interrupted.

"I could help out in her classroom." She said. "I work freelance so my hours are easily moved around."

"How on earth did you know that Anna was in school." I asked confused.

"Rose, I mean Miss Hale, is Emmett's fiance. She was how we found you; your address was in the class directory." Alice explained. I facepalmed, in the shock of the moment I had given no thought as to how they had found us. The teacher though, I really would never of guessed that connection.

"Yeah, that would be fine." I sighed. This was not how I was expecting my first week in the big apple to turn out.

"What about me?" Edward pleaded with me through his eyes. I could almost believe that he was telling the truth about wanting to be there when he looked at me like that, but I was taking no chances.

"I'll think of something." I said.

"Can you meet me for lunch someday this week? We really need to talk about everything Bella." He said.

"No Edward, just give me your number and I will call you when I have time. I want to spend as little time as possible with you."

"Fine... for now."

"I have work tomorrow and Anna has school, so I would appreciate it if you two left now." They nodded and picked up their jackets. They looked at me for another moment before Edward turned towards the door and Alice gave me a very awkward, unreturned hug.

"I want to have lunch Bella, and I'm not asking." She whispered in my ear. I just nodded not bothering to argue with her; she deserved a better explanation. I watched from the window as the two of them climbed into the Volvo and drove away.

Slowly I made my way upstairs, only to be met with Anna's many questions.

"Who were they Momma?"

"Why did I have to go upstairs?"

"Were they mean to you?"

"Are you okay?"

"Sweetheart I'm fine. Those were just some people that Mommy knows, ok?" I explained. "Now; it is time for you to go to bed."

"I don't want to."

"You never want too, yet I never let you stay up. So lets avoid the arguing tonight, I have a headache."

"Fine." Anna agreed unhappily.

"Brush your teeth." I reminded her. She scampered off to the bathroom while I went into my room and changed into my pajamas. It was only nine, but I was exhausted. A few minutes later Anna came in to give me a hug and kiss goodnight before rushing back to her own room.

As I got into bed I went over the whole day in my mind. That night I cried myself to sleep for the first time since James was arrested.

**Alice P.o.V.**

After a very silent ride back to Carlisle and Esme's house with Edward the two of us tried to explain what had went down with Bella. Everyone was a little disappointed with Bella's terms, but we understood where she was coming from. We were just happy that she allowed us to see Anna at all.

I could barely look at Edward all night, and as soon as all explanations were done and I had set up Monday with Rose, Jasper and I went home. I couldn't believe that Edward had cheated. I always knew that he was somehow responsible for the breakup, he had told me so himself, but I never thought the reason was that he cheated on Bella. Why would he do that? I thought that he loved her.

Jasper stopped me many times over the weekend from going over to his apartment and giving him a piece of my mind. That was fine though, because I knew that Edward already knew how I felt about him right now. The whole weekend was uninteresting. I was happy when it was over.

Monday morning I woke up before Jasper, which never happens. I had been enjoying my cup of coffee when my still sleepy husband made his way into the kitchen.

"Morning Darling." He greeted me and gave me a kiss on the forehead. "Now why are you up this early?"

"I woke up at six, and I just couldn't fall back asleep, I was too excited. I'm going to meet my niece today Jas." I exclaimed energized.

"Now I know that you are excited, but you have gotta be discreet about it. You'll have to treat her like all of the other children in the class."

"I know Babe, but this is insane, totally surreal. Last week I didn't even know she existed, and now I'm going to meet her." I said.

"Well how about I make you some eggs for your big day then."

"Oh yes, over easy please."

"I know sweets. Do you know what Rose is teaching today?" He asked.

"Not really, but it's preschool, I'm not worried. I'll probably spend the day washing hands and coloring." I shrugged. Jasper nodded and seemed to be about to say something when his cell phone rang.

"Hello"

"No..."

"Are you positive?"

"I'll be in as soon as I can." He ended the call and looked at me helplessly.

"There is an emergency at the firm, I have to go." He said quickly adding as I'm Sorry to the end. He ran off towards the bedroom, and I sighed before getting up to watch the eggs. I finished them up just as he was walking out the door. I put his eggs in a container and gave him a quick peck before he ran out the door.

After I finished my breakfast I did some work online until it was time to leave. I put on a pair of plain jeans that Emmett had given me for my last birthday, they were American Eagle and had never been worn until today. I'll admit it, I'm a clothes snob. I put on a long sleeve turquoise v-neck shirt with a brown scarf. I paired them off with a pair of brown boots and headed out the door.

The school wasn't that far so instead of trying to flag down a cab I just walked. Rose was waiting in the office for me, and gave me a hug as I walked in. She helped me sign in and showed me to her classroom.

It was cute how she had it all set up. There was no desks, just lots of table and chairs that were even too small for me. I helped her set up until it was time to go and gather the children. She showed me that teachers had to go to the playground to pick the kids up.

Rose's class was all lined up by a wall that had a sign on it that said 5, the number of their classroom I guessed. There were only about fifteen kids, but they made enough noise standing there that I easily could have guessed there was thirty. I noticed Bella standing by a small girl who stood in the back of the line. Bella kissed her cheek, and gave me a small wave before walking off towards the parking lot.

The girl, Anna, was adorable; there was no other word that could accurately describe her cuteness. Her features were perfectly proportioned for her face, and her rosy cheeks made her look like a much younger Bella, minus the hair of course. Her hair was gorgeous, it was so long!

I followed the class back to the room, and she came back and walked by me.

"Hi, I'm Anna." She introduced herself confidently with a bright smile.

"I'm Alice." I said cracking smile, I loved her already.

**AN: This fast update was a thank you for all of you wonderful readers who reviewed... and because I was off school today. Anyways keep up the reviewing please! :D **


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to another…**

**Chapter 8**

**Alice P.O.V.**

"Ali, I need you to come down to the office, it's about your friend." Jasper said over the phone. He was acting weird which was worrying me.

"What friend?" I asked.

"That Bella girl, Edward's ex."

"What about her? What is going on Jazzy?"

"I don't think you should find out over the phone baby, just come." He exclaimed and hung up. I was in the middle of a shopping trip, but he was worrying me out so I left my things in the dressing room and hailed a cab. Jasper's office was all the way across town, so I had thirty minutes to ponder over Jasper's news. I tried to call him a few times, but it always went straight to voicemail.

Jasper is a lawyer, and he has seen a lot of weird things in his day. If something that had to do with Bella had him freaked out then it was bad, because my husband was no lightweight. When the cabbie got to the Harper, Whitlock, and Clark firm I paid him and headed up to Jas's office on the third floor. Jasper is very talented lawyer; last year he was made partner. It was all a very big deal; they threw him a party and gave him his own office. He was much more excited about the office.

"Ello Mrs. Cullen, he's expecting you." His assistant Dara said. Jasper hired her last year after his old assistant made a pass on him. Dara was sweet; she came over from England last year with her brother, and luckily, for my peace of mind, was married.

"Thank you."

Jasper was sitting behind his desk when I walked in, I didn't bother knocking, he knew I was coming. He looked up at me and the emotions on his face ranged from anxiousness to devastation, which made very little sense because he didn't even knew Bella. Whatever she was involved in shouldn't be making such an impact on him.

"Hi Alice." He said.

"Jasper what the hell; why have you not been picking up your phone?" I exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, but what I found out I figured you would want me to tell you in person." He whispered eyeing his computer screen.

"What did you find out?" I asked extremely curious.

"When you told me about the first time you saw Bella I got curious. What you said about the James guy and some of the stuff she said to you, well lets just say my interest was peaked. I looked her up on my computer and she was a victim in a case about a year ago."

"What kind of case?" I asked, almost afraid to know the answer.

"Domestic abuse, her ex fiancé beat her up…a lot." Jasper sighed. I stood in shock until I finally sat down on the chair. I had been imagining a lot of possibilities since that night, and although I had considered it would be something like this I had hopped to God that it wasn't.

"Tell me more." I muttered.

"She was engaged to this guy named James Hunter; he never did anything to her until they were engaged. The abuse went on for a few months until Bella's daughter said something to Bella's friend Angela, who told Bella's dad. Bella broke up with him after her dad talked her into it, but then the next day James came over and beat her so much she ended up in the hospital. That was when she finally pressed charges." Jasper explained.

"How did you find out so much?" I asked.

"Well her file had the name of her lawyer, and it turned out that he was an old friend of mine from law school, so I called him up and asked. Technically he wasn't supposed to tell me, but when I explained everything about our situation he gave me the bare essentials." Jasper said guiltily.

"Wow, Charlie must have gone ballistic. He was always super over protective of Bella after her mom left." I said. It was hard to imagine Bella getting herself into such a bad relationship. I felt an irrational spurt of anger towards Edward again, even though I knew that it wasn't his fault. I couldn't help but think that if he had never cheated then he and Bella never would have broken up, and Bella never would have gone out with James. Like I said I knew it wasn't fair to blame my brother, but I needed to blame someone.

"So did you find out anything more about this _James?" _His name sounded sour coming out of my mouth.

"Yeah, before Bella he had some petty theft charges and one count of assault, but the charges were dropped for the assault. I also found out that he has another few years left of jail time, unless he gets paroled." Jasper said.

"Why would Bella go out with a guy who had a criminal record?" I asked, not really expecting an answer.

"She might not have known." Jas suggested. I sure hoped that was the case here.

**Bella P.O.V.**

"Mommy guess what?" Anna exclaimed. We were sitting at the dinner table eating some pizza that I had ordered; I hadn't been in the mood to cook today.

"What?" I asked.

"I said to guess!" Anna pouted.

"I don't know honey; did you make a new friend today?" I guessed. I really disliked when my daughter tried to get me to play the guessing game, I am not good at it at all.

"Miss Hale's sister in law came in to class today and she was so nice. She looked like a pixie kind of and she colored with me and told me that I should be an artist."

"That's wonderful sweetie," I said. I was actually surprised at how much I meant it. I liked the idea of Anna knowing Alice, but I was still happy that she wasn't aware of their real relationship.

"Yeah…" She yawned.

"Are you tired Bug?" I asked her. She of course shook her head quickly; my daughter hates going to bed. I can't imagine why since she loves to sleep. Sometimes kids confuse me.

"Well what do you want to do until bed?" I inquired.

"Can we video chat with Uncle Jake?" She asked excited. Jacob and Anna have always been very close, I made him her godfather when she was born and he took that role very seriously, or as seriously as he could when he was a seventeen year old that was still in high school. Since then though he has really grown up, the two of them used to go on little outings all the time, and Jake always made himself available as a babysitter. He had been rather upset when I had informed him that we were moving.

"Sure, if he's on line." I replied and went to grab my laptop. Anna pulled her chair around next to mine, and was bouncing in her seat while I logged in. I was happy to see Jake's username _Wolfdude98769 _marked as being on line. Since he had grown up on the La Push reservation and with his father being one of the tribal elders, Jacob had always been really in touch with his spiritual side, and wolves were a very big part of his culture. They were also his favorite animal. I clicked on his name and waited for him to accept our invite.

Barely a minute later his smiling face appeared on our screen.

"Uncle Jake!" Anna exclaimed.

"Anna Banana, how's its hanging?" He replied just as excited.

"Really good, New York is so big! My school is really fun and I have already made tons of friends and I really like me teacher. She's nice and really pretty. But I really, really miss you," She rambled on very quickly.

"I'm glad and I missed you too. How are you doing Bella?" He asked. His face looked a little concerned. Ever since that whole James debacle Jake has been very protective of me, I know that it was hard for him to have me move all the way across the country. Jake and I have been close since we were kids; I have known him even longer than I knew the Cullens. His dad and my dad have always been good friends, so we practically grew up together.

"I doing well, I've been better I guess," I said. "I miss you like crazy though."

"Of course you do, I'm just so dang lovable." He teased.

"Humble much?"

"Nope." He chuckled.

"So what's been going on back home?" I asked.

"Not that much really… Oh!" He exclaimed remembering something. "Sam and Emily finally got engaged."

"Wow, finally! How's Leah taking it?" I asked. That love triangle had been going on for the past three years, and yet it still never seemed to get boring. I am in no way a gossip, but it's hard not to notice what is being talked about by everyone else, especially when you lived in a small town like Forks where everybody knew everyone around them.

"She is doing good considering everything…" He trailed off.

"How are Quil and Embry?" Anna asked.

"Those two are as good as ever." The two of them continued to chat as I cleared the table. We had eaten late so by the time I was done it was time for Anna to get ready for bed. She said goodnight to Jake and went upstairs. I was in the middle of saying goodbye when he cut me off.

"Cut the crap Bella, what is going on over there?" He asked. He knew me _way _to well.

"It's nothing." I lied.

"Tell me what's going on."

"It's the Cullens, they're here and they know about Anna." I whispered.

"I'm coming."

**AN: So that's all for now, don't forget to review review and review some more!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: If Twilight was mine Bella would have a backbone, but alas she is a spineless as ever…**

**Chapter 9**

**Jacob P.O.V.**

I've always thought that love was a relative term. It is just a word, but it carries so much meaning, and yet it means different things to different people. What I do know is that more often than not, with love comes pain. It's a never ending cycle, you love someone, and then something bad happens. My dad is a great example of that, he loved my mom so much, but when she died he was never able to move on. I doubt that he will ever date again.

I have loved Bella since I was just a geeky little kid. She was amazing and fun and I had such an incredible time whenever I was around her. That was puppy love, but as I grew older I loved her in a different way. I thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world and all I wanted was to be able to gather the courage to ask her out. I never gained that courage.

So for all of high school I sat alone in the friend zone and watched her date jerks like Newton and Cullen. Damn, I really hated that Cullen dude. How could someone cheat on Bella? He was lucky enough to get the girl that most of the town harbored a crush on and he treated her like crap! When I found out that she was pregnant I vowed to be there for her, and for her kid. It wasn't a hard vow to keep. Anna was amazing, and I truly believe that she is better off without Cullen in her life.

Once she and Cullen were history I figured that it was finally my chance, but then she started hanging out with that James character. I knew right from the beginning that there was something off about that guy, call it intuition. When I found out what he had been doing to Bella… Well let's just say that it's a good thing that the police chief of Forks is practically my family. James was okay-after a few months- he was eventually able to walk without a limp again.

I have resigned myself to the fact that Bella and I are never going to happen, but that doesn't mean I still don't love her, or that I no longer think she is the most beautiful woman in the world. I still do, and she still is, but I now know that I have to move on. As sad as I was that she was leaving, I thought that it might actually do me some good to have her away from me. I could focus on my personal life without always comparing every girl I saw to Bella.

But when I found out that Bella and Anna were in trouble, it wasn't even a conscious decision. Even when she tried to protest I didn't waver. It was my promise to be there for her that drove me as I bought my plane ticket and packed my things. I boarded a plane that night.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I have never been out of Washington before, unless you count the time that I accidently hiked into Oregon, but I don't, so why would you? Anyways, you could definitely say that The Big Apple was very different from Forks or La Push. Or even Port Angeles for that matter.

I luckily found Bella pretty quickly. After she finally had realized that I would not change my decision to come, she offered to meet me at the airport. She looked exactly how she did when she had left, I don't know why, but I had figured that she would look different after she had moved to New York. She was facing away from me and she seemed to be texting so I quietly snuck up behind her.

"Hey there, stranger," I said, and tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped and turned around to look at me with a giant grin on her face.

"Hey yourself," she squealed and gave me a huge hug.

"Someone missed me." I joked; she slapped my arm, but didn't disagree with my statement.

"Let me get a look at you." She said and looked me over with a critical eye; I must have been satisfactory because she gave me another hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"So what's the verdict?" I asked.

"You're just as enormous as I remember." I laughed at her assessment of me. Bella always said that I made her feel like a shrimp when she stood next to her.

"So let's get you back to the house." She said. "I set up the guest bedroom for you. Anna is so excited to see you, she didn't want to go to school today, but I made her."

"There's the tough mom that I know." I teased; she just shook her head with a smirk on her face. We made our way out of the airport and onto the busy street. I was seriously intimidated, there had to be at least a hundred people walking on the sidewalk of the block alone, and the road was packed with cars. I checked my bag to make sure that it was all zipped up and turned to Bella.

"So where is your car?" I asked. She just started to laugh.

"Ah my naïve, west coast friend; people in New York do not drive." She said in a _duh _voice. "They walk or they hail a cab."

"Okay so are we walking?" I asked confused.

"Nope, you are going to have the real east coast experience, my friend, so we are going to get a cab." She smiled and went over to the side of the road and flagged down a cab. Within a few minutes the two of us were hopping in the back of a yellow taxi cab, and Bella was giving the driver her address.

"So what does the real east coast experience entail?" I asked curiously.

"Well first you have to drink a cup of coffee from the best café in the city."

"I don't like coffee." I interjected.

"You'll like this coffee, anyways, and then Anna will be done with class, so our tour will proceed to the Lots of Love preschool to pick her up."

"Sounds like a big tourist attraction." I said sarcastically.

"Surprisingly it's not, for some reason people would rather see the Statue of Liberty then a bunch of sticky three and four year olds." She replied. "After Anna has had time to go home and change we are going to take you to the Central Park Zoo, Anna wants to see if the penguins are as weird as they are in the movie."

"Wait you lost me; what movie?" I asked.

"Oh, Madagascar of course," Bella replied brightly.

"How could I not have guessed that?" I remarked.

"I don't know. After we see all of the animals and eat lots of junk food we will return to the house and watch movies until Anna has to go to bed." Bella finished. "Sounds fun right?"

"Yeah, I can't wait to see Anna."

"She feels the exact same way. She said that she is going to draw you a picture in class today."

"Great I can add it to my collection." I replied easily.

"I still can't believe that you keep all of the pictures she gives to you." Bella said admiringly.

"Well what kind of a godfather would I be if I didn't?" I smirked.

"I don't know, but you wouldn't be as good of one as you are." She said. "We are almost here." I looked out the window and just watched as we passed all of the big buildings. You just don't find those back home.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Bella asked.

"Yeah."

The cab turned down a road that led to a subdivision full of nice, two story houses. He let us off at Bella's and I grabbed my bags as Bella paid him, I had offered to, but she insisted.

Her house was great, and her aunt was a very kind older woman. I had only ever met Mona once, when I was fifteen and she came down to Forks to visit with Charlie and Bella. It had been weird to see Charlie with his sister, I don't know why, but he just seemed to act different when Mona had been around.

The Eclipse café was quaint, Bella explained that she had found it the day she had gotten here; she also informed me that this was where she first encountered the Cullens.

"It was actually just Alice." She clarified.

"How was she to you?" I asked.

"She really wants to be friends again. She ordered me to lunch one of these days."

"You don't have to do anything that you don't want to Bella." I said firmly.

"It's not that I don't want to Jake, I love Alice, I have nothing against her, or the rest of the Cullens for that matter. It was only Edward that screwed up." She said. "I'm just scared, is all."

"Why are you scared?"

"I have changed a lot since I was friends with Ali, as juvenile as it sounds I want her to like me."

"Hey, that's not juvenile; it's human nature, honey. And besides, I know she'll love you. I know I do." I said honestly.

"Thanks Jake. I needed that," She said and gave me another hug. When we were up to order, Bella insisted on ordering for me, getting us both spice lattés.

"I don't know if I can drink that and keep my man card." I joked.

"Shut up; it's the best drink that they have."

"How would you know, have you drank every single drink that they offer?" I asked. Bella ignored me and sent me to find a table as she waited for our drinks. I found one by the window and watched as she came over a minute later. She handed me the drink and I cautiously took a sip. I had to admit that it was really good.

"What time do we have to get Anna from preschool?" I asked.

"We have to be there by 2:30." She said and glanced at her watch. "We should leave in about fifteen minutes."

"So how has work been?" I asked.

"Well, I have a lot more responsibilities than I did when I was back in Seattle, but I really love it. The whole atmosphere is amazing here, and the people are nice."

"Well that's good, so I don't have to beat anybody up for being nasty to you?" I asked.

"Nope, everyone will stay in the same health that they were before your visit." She smirked. "How about you, how is the garage doing?"

"Oh, business is going well, it always is. People's cars are always breaking down, and my prices are better than the guy out in Port Angeles, and not to mention that I am closer." I said.

"Gosh, it feels like just yesterday I was taking my old truck to you, and eating pizza with Quill and Embry while you worked." She said. "It's hard to believe that it was more than five years ago."

"I know what you mean; I still have nightmares about that damn piece of crap."

"Hey, don't knock my truck." Bella said faking a hurt expression.

"It's not your truck anymore." I pointed out. "I sold the parts to buy our motorcycles, remember."

"Yeah, I do have a slight remembrance of Charlie grounding me for life when he found those motorcycles." She laughed and I joined her. Bella was the one person that I knew I could always be myself around. She had seen me at some of the worst parts of my life and helped me through them; she had also been a part of most of my best moments. She knew me better than anyone.

"Man, that was a good summer though." I said.

"Yeah, it was. I think I spent more time down at La Push then I did at home," Bella said seriously. That had been the summer that the Cullens had gone up to Alaska for the summer to visit their family. I remember being so relieved when Bella had declined their invitation to go with them.

"We should go now." Bella said. We threw our cups in the trash and hailed another cab to Anna's school. We caught up with each other some more as we waited on the bench by the playground for the final bell to ring. When it did we made our way over the door that Anna's class came out of.

Anna was holding hands with a woman that I presumed was her teacher, but as soon as she saw me she dropped the blonde's hand and raced to me.

"UNCLE JAKE!" She screamed as she bounded towards me. I kneeled down and she jumped into my arms, I picked her up and swirled her around a few times before I placed her back one her feet. She was giggling and a grin that could light up a Christmas tree was plastered on her face.

"I'm so glad you are here." She squealed and gave me another hug. The Swan girls sure are huggers.

"I'm glad that I'm here too. Now your mother mentioned a picture…" I trailed off. As Anna reached into her backpack I took a look around, the blond teacher was staring at me with a sour look on her face that was mixed with some confusion. Bella was just gazing at the two of us happily.

"Here you go Uncle Jake." Anna said and handed me a picture. There were three blobs that I figured must be people because they were labeled _me, Mom, and Uncle Jake. _It was very colorful and we were all holding hands.

"It's great, sweetie." I said. Anna smiled and continued to babble on about this and that while the three of us walked back to the house. The walk wasn't that long and we made it home within a half an hour. Bella packed a bag while Anna went upstairs to change. She returned a few minutes later in a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt that had a monkey on the front. Once Bella was done we went out into the garage and got in the car.

"I thought you said New Yorkers don't drive?" I teased.

"Yeah well, going to the zoo is an exception."

"Yeah!" Anna added in. I just chuckled and looked out the window.

"Can we put on my cd, Mommy?" Anna asked after a while.

"Sure sweetie." Bella popped in a cd labeled Disney Jams, and the rest of the car ride was filled with princess songs.

"So do you have a lot of friends in your class?" I asked Anna.

"Yeah I do." She said and then she went on to describe practically her whole class to me in detail. Once we got to the zoo, we found a parking place and paid for our way in. I paid for my own ticket this time. Anna wanted to go and see the monkeys first, so we headed over to the ape building and from there on we just drifted around for a good five hours. We had a dinner of hotdogs and fries, but we also stopped a few times during our wandering for various other snacks.

By the time that we were ready to leave, Anna was so tired that I gave her a ride on my back to the car. She fell asleep during the drive, but by the time we got back to their house all of her energy seemed to have returned and she was ready to watch movies. We started out with Aladdin, and watched about half of Peter Pan before it was time for Anna to go and take her bath.

While Bella went to assist Anna, I found the guest bedroom and took a shower in the bathroom that was attached to the room. I put on my pajama pants and dug around for a shirt to wear. I don't normally wear a shirt when I sleep, but I figured it would be better to wear one while I was here.

I found the kitchen and was just pouring myself a glass of water when I heard the doorbell ring. I went upstairs to find Bella. She was reading a story to Anna in her bed.

"Hey Bells there is someone at the door."

"Ok, can you just let whoever it is in; I'll be down in a few minutes." She said. "Can you say goodnight to Jake?"

"Goodnight Uncle Jake." Anna said drowsily and came over to give me a hug; I kissed her on the forehead and told her that I would see her in the morning.

Whoever was at the door was clearly getting impatient because they were starting to ring the doorbell every few seconds. I checked out the window, but I could see the porch from there. All that I could see was a fancy car in the driveway. I purposely walked slowly to get the door just to irritate whoever was outside.

I opened the door to a very unpleasant surprise.

"Black." He said.

"Cullen." I growled.

**All done, wow you guys are the best. Thanks for all of the reviews you guys have left, 60 reviews for 8 chapters isn't too shabby, can we try to make it to 70 with this chapter?**

**So what do you think about Jake? Do you like him? Don't worry; there will be no Jake & Bella romance in this fic. **

**Why do you think that Edward is there?**

**Review and tell me what you think, and remember I update faster when I get more reviews.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Yes, I am alive. I know that it has been a really long time since I last updated, but hopefully this chapter will have been worth the wait. Just to defend myself a bit, the last few weeks of my eighth grade year have been keeping me VERY busy. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, or Edward, or Emmett, or Jasper... They all (sadly) belong to the talented S.M.**

**Chapter 9 recap:**

"Hey Bells there is someone at the door."

"Ok, can you just let whoever it is in; I'll be down in a few minutes." She said. "Can you say goodnight to Jake?"

"Goodnight Uncle Jake." Anna said drowsily and came over to give me a hug; I kissed her on the forehead and told her that I would see her in the morning.

Whoever was at the door was clearly getting impatient because they were starting to ring the doorbell every few seconds. I checked out the window, but I could see the porch from there. All that I could see was a fancy car in the driveway. I purposely walked slowly to get the door just to irritate whoever was outside.

I opened the door to a very unpleasant surprise.

"Black." He said.

"Cullen." I growled.

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**Chapter 10**

**Edward P.o.V.**

I honestly didn't know what I was doing here.

The drive to get here was easy because it was fueled with jealousy, jealousy of the idea of Black and Bella. My Bella.

But now that I am here my mind has cleared some, and I know that barging in there and making an ass of myself would not put me back in Bella's good graces. I don't know if anything really will, but this will definitely not help. Bella isn't even mine anymore, she is free to see whomever she pleases, I know that I do...

I was just about to climb back in my car and go back home when a sickening thought lodged itself in my mind. A thought that somehow was even worse than the idea of Bella and Black dating, which is already very high on my list of the world's most terrible things.

What was Black to Anna? Did _my_ daughter think of _him_ as a father? Jacob Black had always wanted what I had, first it was my money, then it was Bella, I could see him wanting Anna as a daughter. Rose did say that the three of them all looked rather cozy. Well no way was I letting Jacob Black steal my daughter out from under me, and with that mentality I rang the doorbell. No one came to the door, so I rang it again, and then in my impatience I rung it again, finally I heard an unlocking sound coming from the door so I stepped back. When the door opened I was met with a very unpleasant sight.

Jacob Black was very different from the last time I had seen him. In high school he was this lanky kid who had almost no muscle, now he looked like a freakin' bodybuilder! The guy was huge! He glared and looked me up and down; like he was sizing me up.

"Black." I said.

"Cullen." He growled back. Seeing this guy again brought back all of my teenage aggression. He was my only real competition for Bella back then, not because of his looks or intelligence, but because of their history. They grew up together, and had this connection to each other that I never had, which was something that Black never failed to use to his advantage.

"Is Bella around?" I asked trying to sound calm.

"Not to see you." He said stubbornly.

"It's not up to you who Bella sees."

"Yeah, but I know that she doesn't want to see you," he spit.

"Well I guess that is up to her."

"You're right, it is up to me, and I don't want to see you." Bella spat as she came from the kitchen making the both jump. "And Jake, I love you, but you have got to stop trying to fight my battles for me."

I would be lying if I said my heart didn't break a little when she said that, and I know how girly that just sounded.

"Sorry Bells, but I have wanted to chew this guy out since he cheated on you," Black said not sounding the least apologetic. Bella glared at him playfully.

"Jake can you just give us a minute."

"Fine, but I will just be in the kitchen so call if you need me." With one last glare my way Black left the room and went into the kitchen closing the door behind him.

"Edward you have got to stop just randomly showing up at my house, Anna could see you." Bella said, her voice was dripping with irritation.

"That is kind of he point Bella, she's my daughter and I want to know her. I want her to know me!" I practically shouted.

"Keep your voice down, Anna just went to sleep." Bella said harshly.

"Sorry."

"Edward I..." She broke off.

"Look Bella I know that I-" I started, but Bella cut me off.

"I do not want to hear another _I messed up_ speech Edward."

"I know that, but you can't keep Anna from me now that I know about her! I was an idiot five years ago, I lost the one person who meant the most to me, and in the process of that I unknowingly lost my own child. I have been regretting my decision for years, but this is one thing I don't want to regret. I want to do right by Anna now." I was pretty proud of my speech, but Bella didn't seem so amused.

"Edward I don't know if I can even explain in words how much you destroyed me when I found you with that whore, but Anna was the reason I kept it under control. Just the idea of putting her in a position where she could be hurt like how I was is practically impossible for me."

"I would never hurt Anna." I implored.

"Okay, just me then." Bella whispered.

"Bella... That wasn't what I meant." I cried.

"Please go Edward."

"I can't until you promise me that you will let me see Anna."

"Edward, if you don't go I will let Jacob come out here and make you leave, and I know that he would be more than happy to."

"I sure would." Black's slightly muffled voice came from behind the kitchen door, he had obviously been listening to what we were saying.

"Fine, but I won't give up, and I know that Alice won't either."

"Alice has already met Anna." Bella said smugly. I couldn't believe that Alice had kept that from me.

"Well I guess I will be next then." I said and walked out the door because I was pretty sure that Black would be able to take me down, he was a big guy and even though I was no slouch fitness wise there was no way that I could compare to him.

I may have walked out of that door willingly, but Bella and Anna were not getting rid of me that easy.

**This wasn't my best work, and I know it was kind of short but Please review, review, review because I want to hit 83 with this chapter and because reviews make me happy, and when I'm happy I write more! :D**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: the character that I own is Anna, everyone else belongs to S.M.**

**Chapter 11**

**Alice P.o.V**

Waking up to insistent pounding on my door is never a good way to wake up, especially when it's at five in the morning. Jasper rolled out of bed irritably and went to answer the door, I could already guess who it would be by just the time of day; nobody but Edward is up at five o'clock.

"Ed, what the hell are you doing here?" Jasper asked.

"I need to talk to Alice," he said and I heard footsteps coming down the hall. He came straight into our room now bothering to knock and I could tell by the crazy look in his eye that he was pissed, but that's okay because I was pissed at him too.

"We need to talk, now."

"I'm kind of busy Edward- sleeping- you know like a normal human?" I replied sleepily.

"No, I have to be at work in an hour, so you have to get dressed and talk to me right now." He ordered.

"Where do you get off telling me what to do? You are not my father!" I yelled.

"No, but I'm Anna's, and you didn't even think it was important to tell me that you have met her!"

"That is kind of the point of avoiding you Edward, not talking to you!" I yelled.

"It's too early for this, I am going to go and make coffee." Jasper, who had been standing in the doorway, said before moving towards the kitchen.

"Go with him, I'll get dressed and meet you out there." I told Edward who only just seemed to have noticed that I was still wearing my Tinkerbell pajama pants and white tank top. He quickly followed Jasper. I pulled on a jean skirt and a purple and blue striped blouse.

"Give me coffee," I ordered taking a seat with the boys at the kitchen table. Jasper, who looked half dead, drowsily got up and poured me a cup and then placed it in front of me. Jasper was the complete opposite of a morning person. I put some sugar in my mug and then drank out of it greedily. Edward stared at me, his face stiff.

"Are you almost done?" He asked impatiently.

"I don't know what you want me to say, brother. I mean, can you really blame me for not wanting to give you a blow by blow account of my time with Anna when you are the reason that I am only just meeting her?" I asked sharply and Ed flinched at my tone.

"I know that I screwed things up with Bella, but you are still my sister Ali!" He said and I started to feel a little guilty.

"I know that Edward, and I will always love you. The thing is, though, I was friends with Bella long before we adopted you, and losing her was so hard on me; she was the sister I had always wanted, and now I am finding out that you hurt her, and that she has been raising this sweet little girl all on her own, and with the whole James thing... You are just the easiest person to push the blame on because even though I want to, I can't really blame Bella for keeping Anna from us after what you did."

"What James thing? Who is James?" Edward asked worriedly and I gasped at my stupidity, Jasper had made me promise not to tell anyone and I had already broken in. I blame the early morning, I should just not be allowed to speak before seven o'clock in the morning!

"Crap, I didn't mean to say that!" I exclaimed.

"Alice, who is James?"

"I can't tell you that, I'm not even supposed to know."

"You can't just leave me hanging on this." Edward implored.

"I'm sorry, if Bella wants you to know she will tell you." I said finally. We were all sitting silently for a moment- none of us knowing what to say and none of us wanting to be the first person to break the silence.

"What am I going to do?" Ed finally asked.

"I don't know," I said honestly.

"Bella is pretty adamant that she won't let me see Anna until I have gained her trust back, but who knows how long that will take? Maybe I should go to court and sue for joint custody, or maybe just visitation." Edward seemed to be just thinking aloud, but Jasper butted in.

"NO!" He said seriously.

"What? Why not?" Edward asked curiously, it's pretty uncommon for for Jasper to just blurt things out.

"Dude, I'm a lawyer, and believe me when I say that custody cases suck. Everything gets brought out into the open, and I mean everything, we both now that you have been far from celibate over the past five years, plus with the whole _you cheated on her thing, _and the fact that Anna is really good, well rounded kid because of Bella's parenting, it is pretty slim that any judge would take your side, and even if they did you will be throwing any chance of any of us ever having a good relationship with Bella out the window. There is no way that she would trust any of us after that, and you would just be making her even more reluctant to trust Anna with you. And besides, don't you want Anna to _want _to spend time with you, not be _forced _to." Jasper reasoned. Edward seemed to be taking this all in.

"So I should pretty much just throw court out the window?" Edward finally asked.

"Yes." I said, not wanted to lose my best friend's trust again.

"Okay." Ed sighed. "Can you at least tell me about Anna?"

"She is the sweetest thing, so kind and really smart, too. You've seen her, right?" I asked and he nodded.

"Well, she is really the most adorable kid that I have ever met, and that is not me being biased- I'm just being honest. She is a lot like you really, very confident and a real people person. When I went to her class, she just came right up to me and introduced herself, she wasn't the least bit shy."

"Wow," was all Edward could say.

"Yeah."

"I wish I could stay longer, but I have to be at work in twenty minutes." He said getting up, but before he got to the door he stopped and looked at me again.

"For what it is worth Alice, I really am sorry, for everything."

"I know." I said trying to out a smile on my face. I still wasn't okay with what he did and it would be a long time we were good again, but I knew he was trying.

Jasper and I didn't really know what to do with ourselves seeing as neither of us are normally up before seven so we ended up watching infomercials and snuggling on the couch in the living room until we both had to get up.

"So, what do you have planned for the rest of the day now?" Jasper asked as we ate our breakfast, me cereal and him toast.

"I'm meeting Bella for lunch."

"Sounds fun, are you going to talk about the whole James thing?" He asked.

"Not unless she brings it up, I don't want to scare her away... Or maybe I will just ask her about the song?"

"The song?" Jas asked confused.

"Don't you remember where I first found her? She was singing that song at the cafe," I exclaimed.

"Oh! Right, with everything that has been going on it just slipped my mind." He explained, "but just be sure to be subtle, darling. What I said to Edward also applies to you, I can guess that your friend would not be to pleased with the idea of us prying into her past, especially with what we found."

"I will don't worry, and I really have got to introduce the two of us so you can stop calling Bella _my _friend."

"Let's just take things one step at a time," Jasper suggested and I nodded.

"See you later sweetheart, I have to get to the office." He put his plate in the dishwasher and gave me a kiss before grabbing his suit coat and briefcase and heading out. When I was done I threw my bowl into the dishwasher as well, and turned on my laptop to answer some of my e-mails before meeting Bella. There was a major crisis at one of the seamstress's office, well, a major crisis to them. Apparently we had not supplied the right amount of fabric and they flat out refused to use any of the fabric that they had on hand, so we had to rush order them the actual amount that they needed so they would get started. Let's just say that this will be the last time we worked with _Lacy's Lace ~ the Fabric Place. _They had a tacky name anyways.

Bella and I had decided to meet at Eclipse because Bella didn't really know all that many places in the city and because Eclipse has some rocking french dip sandwiches. Bella was waiting for me outside, she was on the phone with someone, but when she saw me she said a quick goodbye to whomever it was and came over to me. We did the whole awkward _how should we greet each other _thing and on weird pat on the shoulder/hug combo. If it wasn't so sad I would have laughed at us. I used to know this girl like the back of my hand, and now I didn't even know how to say hello to her.

"Let's go in." Bella said.

"Yeah." I agreed and we walked in and jumped in the line, we stood in an extremely awkward silence until it was our turn to order, thankfully the line was not too long. We both ordered french dip sandwiches, but while I ordered a coffee Bella ordered green tea. I have always found tea to be disgusting, and so had Bella, so I was pretty surprised by her choice to say the least.

"When did you start drinking tea?" I asked curiously.

"About a year ago."

"Why?"

"Just had some bad experiences with coffee is all." She replied tight lipped.

"What do you me-"

"Lets go sit over there." Bella cut me off and led us to a table, I decided not to push the matter, but was still very confused. How could someone have a bad experience with coffee?

"So..." I said trying to strike up a conversation, I didn't want to get into the soul bearing part of the conversation right away, and I was absolutely positive that Bella didn't want to either.

"Yes?" She asked.

"Where do you work? You said that you were promoted to the corporate branch of your company, that must be very exciting!

"I work at the Breaking Dawn Publishing Company, I'm the senior editor. The promotion has been great, my old boss had to pull some strings to get me here, but when I told him that I was moving here he called on some old connections and put in some good words for me." She said.

"So you didn't move here because of the job?" I asked.

"No, my Aunt Mona, you met her, she has cancer and she needed someone to be around for her. My dad could never leave Forks, so I came instead."

"And you brought Anna with you." I finished.

"Yes I did." She said and took a deep breathe. "Alice, I really am sorry for keeping Anna from you and your family, it was just with everything that happened with Edward... I just wanted to be rid of it, especially Edward, and I knew that none of you would ever have agreed to keep her a secret from him."

"I can understand that. I am in no way really okay with it, but I can understand your reasoning." I frowned. I really wanted to just forgive her, but a part of me knew that I would be carrying this grudge for a while.

"Thanks for that, I guess." She sighed.

"So, what has been happening with you?" She asked changing the subject.

"Well, technically I am not a Cullen anymore, I got married about four months ago," I said and held out my hand that held my beautiful ring, Bella dutifully examined it.

"Wow, it is really gorgeous Alice, and he must be one hell of a guy to get you to settle down. I remember you in high school you were dating a new guy every week!" She chuckled.

"Yeah well Jasper was the one, you know?"

"Not really, honestly." Bella laughed and I laughed along awkwardly.

"That song you wrote was really beautiful." I said.

"Thanks."

"It was kind of morbid though, who was it about?" I asked.

"That's kind of private." Bella was squirming uncomfortably.

"Come on Bella, you know that you can trust me."

"I know that it's just hard to talk about." Bella said.

"But sometimes it is better to just get it out in the open, especially since know that you have given me an inch I will go crazy until my head explodes with curiosity." That was actually true because even though I knew what happened I really wanted to know her side of the story, not just the facts.

"His name was James..."

**And that's it, I know that I'm evil. PLEASE REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! Thanks to everyone who reviewed my last chapter, this quick update was a thank you, keep it up my readers! REVIEW!**


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